Poisonous Plum Problem

Contaminated food is being sold in New Zealand despite testing by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) showing high residues of lead and other poisons on some imported food, the Green Party said today.

“This exposes New Zealand’s sloppy and ineffectual import testing regime. The NZFSA appears more concerned with safeguarding trade relationships than consumer safety,” Green Party Food spokesperson Sue Kedgley said.

The NZFSA released results today showing that five out of 13 samples of dried plums it tested were contaminated with illegally high residues of lead.

20 samples of Vietnamese Catfish were also tested. Gentian violet — a substance linked to bladder cancer — not approved for use in food production in New Zealand or Vietnam was found in some of the Catfish samples.

“The public’s health is at risk but the NZFSA has taken no action,” Ms Kedgley said.

“NZFSA’s inaction against the importers in both of these cases is worrying. The products were not removed from the shelves — not even a health warning was issued.

“I am pleased that the NZFASA has finally begun to test small samples of imported produce to see if they contain contaminants or illegally high levels of residues. But unless they actually back up their findings with actions they are toothless.

“Lead is a serious contaminant which can affect the brains of children even at very low levels. Lead can affect intelligence, ability to learn and behaviour.

“Finding that almost 40 percent of dried plums are contaminated shows that we need to be testing more often and imposing fines and removing import licences.

“Equally serious is the discovery of an illegal substance in imported fish. Surely stronger action needs to be taken against importers who put public health at risk.

“I strongly suspect the only reason we are not finding more cases of contamination is that our testing program for imported food is tiny compared to the amount of food we import.

“How can New Zealanders have any confidence in the safety of imported food when NZFSA doesn’t take any action against importers who import food with lead residues in it?” Ms Kedgley said.