Coca Cola products safe from botulism bug, says Fonterra

Fonterra is advising consumers of drinks and other products made by Coca Cola, Vitaco and Chinese drinks maker Wahaha, that its products are "safe to consume because of the way they are manufactured."

The statement does not include infant formula made by the French-owned global dairy products manufacturer Danone..

Danone issued a product recall in both the Chinese and New Zealand markets after notification by Fonterra on Saturday of the presence of botulism-causing bacteria in a small batch of whey protein concentrate, known as WPC80.

Coke, Vitaco and Wahaha use whey protein concentrate in UHT, yoghurt or acid beverage products.

Fonterra's Managing Director of NZ Milk Products, Gary Romano, said: "Our technical teams have been working closely this weekend with Coca-Cola, Wahaha, and Vitaco and have established that the process used to manufacture their products would kill the bacteria that was in the affected whey protein concentrate."

"In the case of Coca-Cola and Wahaha, the combination of low pH and ultra-high temperature treatment gives us complete confidence that acid beverages and yoghurts (pH <4.5) are safe. In the case of Vitaco, the ultra-high temperature treatment gives us the same confidence."

The whey protein concentrate, WPC80, is a dried product used as an ingredient in infant formula and sports drinks. Some of 38 tonnes of the product was shipped to customers in six countries in May 2012, having passed health safety tests.

In March this year, Fonterra retested material from the same batch prior to use in third party manufacturing under licence and, four months later, publicly disclosed the presence of clostridium botulinum, a "very rare" example of a common dairy bacterium.

No Fonterra brand product has been affected, and fresh cheese, milk, and yoghurt are unaffected.

Trade Minister Tim Groser today described the situation as "very serious" and vowed attention in the first instance on the health of "the little babies" potentially affected, before turning to questions of blame.

In New Zealand, Nutricia Karicare Infant Formula Stage 1 (0-6 months) with batch numbers 3169 and 3170 was recalled today, after Karicare Gold+ Follow On Formula Stage 2 (6-12 months), with batch number D3183 was recalled.

Batch numbers are on the base of the tin.

The Chinese food safety authority, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, has ordered products containing Fonterra ingredients off supermarket shelves in China, and the issue has made the front page of the Financial Times website and is being reported throughout Australian, Asian, and global media, including Al Jazeera, the Wall Street Journal and The Guardian.

Much of batch of WPC80 concentrate was shipped after manufacture in May last year to eight customers in six countries: Australia, China, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Viet Nam, Groser revealed this weekend. Such products are widely exported within Asia.

(BusinessDesk)