Days ahead of a bridge-building exercise by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key in China, one of the world's largest dairy companies Fonterra said it would plead guilty to a series of charges stemming from a global food safety scare last year.
A botulism scare last year, which turned out to be a false alarm, prompted global recalls of baby formula.
New Zealand's Ministry of Primary Industries laid four charges against the company, including exporting a product that did not meet relevant standards and failing to tell authorities about a potential problem as soon as possible.
"We have entered guilty pleas," Fonterrra spokeswoman Maury Leyland told the media.
The dairy sector is crucial to the country's economy. In January, dairy exports totaled $1.7 billion, of which almost half went to China. Fonterra say that they have since stepped up their quality control procedures.
© 2014 - European Supermarket Magazine by Enda Dowling
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