Zespri has full confidence that fruit currently on hold due to potentially-affected packaging poses no risk to consumer safety.
The fruit was put on hold in early April, following concern that small deposits of grease on pocket packs could affect around 0.01% of the fruit on hold.
Since then Zespri has sought advice from numerous domestic and international independent agencies on the compounds found in the grease to understand any risk it may pose to consumers.
Zespri’s Chief Operating Officer, Simon Limmer said following that process, Zespri can now conclude that there is no risk to consumer health given the composition of the grease and the very small deposits potentially on the packaging.
“Having confirmed there is no risk to human health, we now want to focus on ensuring all our fruit is delivered in top condition. This means we will now undertake a process to unpack, check and repack all trays of fruit in potentially-affected packaging to ensure no product with any traces of grease get to market.
“We are taking this extra step to reassure our customers and consumers that this fruit is the same premium quality as all Zespri Kiwifruit,” Mr Limmer said.
The same process will be used to check and re-pack trays currently on hold in the market. Once this process is finished, the remaining fruit will be released from hold.
“We thank and acknowledge the huge efforts of the industry in working through this issue,” Mr Limmer said.
For more information:
Rachel Lynch
Zespri International Limited
Tel: +64 7 572 7757
Mob: +64 27 509 1805