John Reeve. John, a retired government food safety toxicologist, described for us the hard work and extremely long hours – seven days a week, 7am to 6pm, even through the Christmas/New Year period – involved in dealing with the November 2014 blackmail threat to poison infant formula with the vertebrate pest poison compound 1080, unless 1080 were banned in New Zealand within six months.
Blackmail letters were received by Fonterra and Federated Farmers. Both letters contained white powder — infant formula with a lethal dose of 1080. The letters warned that any contact with police would lead to the immediate implementation of the threat.
If carried out, the action would not only create a major food safety crisis within New Zealand but could also close international markets to dairy products having a catastrophic effect on our economy.
To counter the threat, a secret group, working within the Food Safety branch of the Ministry for Primary Industry (MPI), was set up. It involved food safety and analytical science experts along with the police.
The priority was to ensure complete safety for infants – and others – subsequently keeping our dairy markets open. The plan was to ensure every batch of dairy product produced in New Zealand contained no detectable 1080, then to control the movement of product from manufacture to public sale, so that interference with it would not be possible.
The priority was to ensure complete safety for infants – and others – subsequently keeping our dairy markets open. The plan was to ensure every batch of dairy product produced in New Zealand contained no detectable 1080
This required development of a new analytical detection limit for 1080 to ensure that any “Not Detected” verdict would be completely safe. As about 3000 batches of dairy product are produced in New Zealand every week, MPI-contracted laboratories needed to greatly increase their analytical capacity.
It took five months to bring the plan into being and to neutralise the six-month threat deadline, which in March 2015, made public by the Government. While no 1080 positives were found in the analyses, it was costing about $450,000 per week until police caught the blackmailer in October 2015 and the threat was over. His prison sentence was 8 ½ years.
The South Wairarapa Rebus Club meets at 9:45am on the fourth Friday of each month, at the South Wairarapa Working Men’s Club in Greytown. Retired people are invited to attend a meeting as a visitor. Contact John Reeve on 021 560 461 for more information.
