Last year's botulism scare has prompted the creation of a new working group in the dairy processing sector.
It was one of the recommendations of the independent Government inquiry into the whey protein concentrate contamination, which sent shock waves through New Zealand's dairy industry.
The inquiry highlighted a shortage of experienced people with processing expertise and so the group has been set up to fix that.
The working group was one of the recommendations of an independent Government inquiry into the whey protein concentrate contamination. Photo: AFP
The working group will be chaired by Northland dairy farmer and former Fonterra board director, Greg Gent, who said it was an exciting project.
He said New Zealand's international reputation has been built around food and food safety and it was good to be involved in both those things.
Mr Gent said the group came out of recommendations that came to Government from a report done by Miriam Dean.
"So the aim of the group is to look at food safety across the whole value chain really, right from farms through to the consumer. What we want to get out of this process I guess is an absolute understanding of what we've got around capability, and what capability we need in the future. And that will link obviously to the growth agenda for agri generally and dairy in particular and making sure we have the capability as the industry grows."
