New Zealand Government assures safety of country’s dairy products

New Zealand Government assures safety of country’s dairy products

The New Zealand Government is assuring all consumers that all New Zealand dairy products are safe recently.

Ministry for Primary Industries Director-General Wayne McNee says there has been some confusion about the suspension of a pasture treatment, DCD, in New Zealand and what this means for the safety of New Zealand milk products.

“Use of DCD was suspended by its manufacturers because very small traces of residue were unexpectedly detected in New Zealand milk. DCD residues have been only found in some milk powder products and not in other dairy products such as butter and cheese.

“The detection of these small DCD residues poses no food safety risk. DCD itself is not poisonous. It is actually vastly less toxic than common salt,” Mr McNee says.

“DCD is not used directly in or on food in New Zealand and never has been. It is a product used on pastures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the leaching of nitrogen into waterways.

“DCD manufacturers have voluntarily suspended DCD because New Zealand’s international dairy customers expect New Zealand products to be residue-free, where there is no internationally accepted standard for residues for particular compounds. An international standard has yet to be agreed for DCD.

Mr McNee says the European Commission has set an acceptable daily intake for DCD, and based on the highest DCD residue that was detected in New Zealand milk products, a 60 kg person would have to drink more than 130 litres of liquid milk or consume some 60 kg of milk powder to reach the Commission’s limit for an acceptable daily intake, and considerably more to have any health effects.

The Ministry says there is only a small amount of dairy product potentially involved in this issue. DCD has been used by less than five percent of the country’s dairy farmers who applied it only twice a year. Each application leaves only traces of residue on the grass for no more than a few days. This means only very small numbers of New Zealand cows could have come into contact with DCD in very limited time frames.

“The chance of any residues of DCD being present in exported milk products is minimal,” Mr McNee assures.

“There has been no use of DCD on New Zealand pastures since September 2012, and now that its use has been suspended, it is not possible that any New Zealand dairy produce currently in production will have DCD residues in it.”

There has been absolutely no restriction on dairy sales in New Zealand because of this suspension of DCD use on pasture.

Source: Consulate General of New Zealand in Hong Kong

新西蘭政府確保該國乳製品的安全性

新西蘭政府日前向所有消費者保證紐西蘭乳製品是安全的。

初級產業部局長Wayne McNee 表示，對於新西蘭暫停在牧場施用DCD及其對新西蘭乳製品的安全性意味着什麼，外界有所誤解。

DCD製造商暫停其施用是因為在牛奶中意外檢出了微量的殘留。DCD的殘留只在少量的奶粉產品中被發現，並不存在於任何其他乳製品，如奶油與乳酪。

「這些少量的殘留並不會對食品安全造成危害，DCD本身是無毒害的。事實上其毒性遠遠低於一般的鹽。」McNee先生表示。

DCD並從未被加入或是被使用在新西蘭的食品上，它是被用來使用在牧草上以降低溫室氣體的排放和減少硝酸鹽進入水中。

雖然目前對於特定的化合物的殘留並無國際標準，DCD的製造商已經自願地暫停使用DCD。因為新西蘭的國際乳製品消費者期待新西蘭產品是零殘留。目前對於DCD尚無國際標準。

McNee先生說，歐盟委員會設定有每日可接受的DCD含量。根據目前在新西蘭乳品所檢測出的最高DCD殘留，一個六十公斤體重的人必須飲用超過一百三十公升的液態牛奶，或是攝取六十公斤的奶粉才會達到歐盟委員會所設定的每日可接受含量的限額，而要更多得多的量才可能影響健康。

初級產業部表示只有一小部分的乳製品受此事件影響。只有不到百分之五的新西蘭農場使用了DCD，並且一年只用兩次。每次的使用只會使牧草在短短幾天內有微量殘留。這意味着只有極少數的紐西蘭奶牛在極有限的時間內會接觸到DCD。

「在出口的乳製品中存在DCD殘留的機會是微乎其微的。」McNee先生強調。

「自二零一二年九月之後在紐西蘭就沒有任何DCD的使用，並且目前也已被停止使用。新西蘭目前所生產的任何乳製品都不可能有DCD的殘留。」

新西蘭國內並沒有因為本次在牧場停用DCD而對乳製品的銷售有任何限制。