The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) of New Zealand has filed four charging documents in Wellington District Court against the dairy co-operative Fonterra for violating food safety standards.
The move comes after the ministry's compliance inquiries into the Whey Protein Concentrate scare in 2013 that led to recalls of milk products in China.
MPI examined whether Fonterra complied with standards under New Zealand's Food Act and Animal Products Act.
The ministry's charges against the company were for processing dairy product that is not in compliance with its Risk Management Programme; exporting dairy product that failed to comply with relevant animal product standards; failing to notify that the product had not been processed in compliance with the program; and exporting the dairy product that was not fit for intended purpose.
Fonterra People, Culture and Strategy managing director Maury Leyland said, "We have accepted all four charges, which are consistent with the findings of our Operational Review, and the Independent Board Inquiry.
"We have previously detailed issues relating to the decision to reprocess the original WPC80, and being slow about escalating information - which are reflected in the charges laid by MPI."
Leyland said that the company is working with the government to progress all the recommendations of its review of New Zealand's dairy food safety regulatory framework, undertaken last year.
