New Zealand food safe, says regulator after man pleads guilty of poison threat

New Zealand food safety regulator on Thursday reassured consumers at home and abroad after a man admitted making threats to poison infant formula.

The 60-year-old businessman, whose name and companies were suppressed, appeared in the High Court in Auckland Thursday and pleaded guilty to two blackmail charges.

However, Radio New Zealand reported, the man disputed the facts of what happened and a hearing was scheduled for February next year.

According to the charges, the businessman made threats to the Federated Farmers industry group and dairy giant Fonterra in November last year, saying infant formula for the Chinese market would be contaminated with poison Sodium monofluoroacetate, known as 1080.

Domestic and international consumers of New Zealand food should take confidence in the way the criminal blackmail threat to contaminate infant and other formula with 1080 was handled, Ministry for Primary Industries director-general Martyn Dunne said in a statement after the court hearing.

"What we saw in response to this threat was multiple government agencies working together with dairy companies and retailers with a common purpose - to protect consumers," said Dunne.

The man was arrested in October after a lengthy police investigation. He was believed to have been acted alone and no one else has been charged.

He faces two counts of blackmail related to threat letters sent to Fonterra and Federated Farmers November last year.

The public was told of the threat in March and formula was taken off supermarket shelves and held securely to prevent contamination.

The charges carry a sentence of up to 14 years in prison.

The letters were accompanied by small packages of milk powder that subsequently tested positive for the presence of a concentrated form of 1080.

The letters threatened to contaminate infant and other formula with 1080 unless New Zealand stopped using the poison for pest control by the end of March this year.

Sodium monofluoroacetate, known as 1080, is a poison used to protect New Zealand's native flora and fauna against introduced pests such as possums and ferrets.

Its use has been controversial over the years with opponents saying it poisons non-target animals and contaminates the environment.