Chelsea Sugar (also known as the New Zealand Sugar Company) has been fined $149,500 for importing and selling sugar products tainted with lead.
More than 970 tonnes of products were manufactured from sugar contaminated during sea transportation from Australia, resulting in the company recalling thousands of products in late 2021.
Two more recalls were needed when it was revealed incorrect information was provided to supermarkets resulting in more tainted goods being released to consumers.
After being charged by the Ministry for Primary Industries, a sentencing hearing was held in September last year and the court released its reserved decision today.
“These recalls had a significant impact on consumer access to certain sugar products, such as brown sugar,” New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said.
“It also affected a large number of other businesses which had to recall products made with the contaminated sugar.”
The sugar had been freighted to New Zealand from Queensland aboard cargo ship the Rin Treasure in September 2021. On its previous voyage, the ship had carried metal sulphide concentrates (zinc and lead).
Before choosing the vessel, Chelsea Sugar had been advised that the Rin Treasure had failed a survey report and was not fit to transport bulk sugar. Despite a cleanliness report, the cleaning of the ship’s hold was not effective, leading to the sugar’s contamination.
It was also believed a broken pipe on the ship may have exacerbated the contamination by spilling water into the sugar during the unloading process by contractors.
“New Zealand Sugar Company knew what its responsibilities were to consumers – ensuring the safety and suitability of its products and managing any potential risk to consumers,” Arbuckle said.
“It failed to properly detect the extent of lead contamination until after the imported sugar had been used in production.
“Offending at this scale is rare, and the court’s sentence today sends a strong message that it will not be tolerated.”
Samples were taken between September 15 and 24 for testing, but Chelsea Sugar followed its normal process for distribution and sale.
“The test result on 7 October showed high readings of lead contamination, but rather than take immediate action and stop production and distribution, they instead sought more testing which confirmed the same result,” Arbuckle said.
“Some of this product was sold between October and early November. We were not informed of the lead contamination until 3 November, which is unacceptable.
“New Zealand Sugar Company’s lack of definitive action resulted in a consumer level recall of sugar products on 4 November – around six weeks after the contaminated product arrived in New Zealand.
“Although the short-term exposure to increased lead levels through these sugar products would not have endangered people’s health, we cannot afford to take a chance on public health.”
rnz.co.nz
