New Zealand dairy firm fined over products using Indian butter

Trade watchdog says institution misled customers astir root of food utilized successful ‘100 percent axenic New Zealand’ products.

A New Zealand dairy institution has been fined 420,000 New Zealand dollars ($261,452) for utilizing imported Indian food successful products labelled arsenic locally produced.

New Zealand’s Commerce Commission said connected Monday that Milkio Foods Limited misled customers astir the root of the food utilized successful its “100 percent axenic New Zealand” ghee products.

Milkio, based successful Hamilton, admitted to 15 breaches of the Fair Trading Act done mendacious representations arsenic good arsenic unauthorised usage of the FernMark logo, which is utilized to place New Zealand-made products, the committee said.

Commerce Commission Fair Trading General Manager Vanessa Horne said it was important to clasp the institution accountable fixed New Zealand’s “international estimation for precocious prime dairy products, which underpins the worth of our dairy manufacture and exports”.

“Milkio took vantage of this estimation to beforehand their ain products done the usage of descriptions similar ‘from the cleanable greenish pasture-based dairy farms successful New Zealand,’ and ‘produced and manufactured successful pristine New Zealand’ contempt immoderate of their products utilizing imported food from India,” Horne said.

Horne said the prosecution would “serve arsenic a informing to others who whitethorn beryllium looking to falsely assertion the New Zealand brand”.

Milkio did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

New Zealand’s dairy manufacture is 1 of the South Pacific country’s biggest gross earners.

Home to conscionable implicit 5 cardinal people, the state ranks arsenic the world’s eighth-largest beverage producer, exporting much than 95 percent of its dairy overseas, according to the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand.

Kiwi producers exported 23.7 cardinal New Zealand dollars ($14.7bn) worthy of dairy products successful the twelvemonth to March 2024, accounting for astir one-quarter of full export values, according to the New Zealand Treasury.

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Al Jazeera and quality agencies