The Ministry for Primary Industries is taking New Zealand Sugar Co to court for selling sugar containing lead.

Seven charges have been laid against NZ Sugar Co (Chelsea Sugar) after it was found brown sugar produced by the company had low-level lead contamination and was recalled four times in late 2021.

Brands recalled included Chelsea, Pam's and Countdown.

The seven charges filed by MPI were for breaches of the Food Act and had penalties ranging from $20,000 to $500,000.

'The charges are related to the elevated lead levels in a sugar shipment in September 2021 and the subsequent recall of the sugar. NZSC is currently reviewing the charges, however the impact on the company's operations or results of those operations or the company's state of affairs is not anticipated to be material,” the company said in its latest financial statement released last month.

MPI says uncompliant raw sugar, food-grade molasses and brown sugar was sold to retail food suppliers and food manufacturers.

The charges related to non-complying manufacturing processes, transportation, and hazard control procedures, a loss of control, trading consumables that were not safe for consumption and failing to control hazards.

MPI describes the lead contamination as 'low level” and unlikely to cause illness to customers.

But MPI says it was not notified of the recall fast enough. The company started a trade-level recall of bulk food-grade molasses on October 18 and MPI's chief executive was notified on November 3.

At the time of the initial recall, NZ Sugar chief executive Bernard Duignan​ said the lead contamination was detected after routine testing.

'As soon as we identified a potential problem, we contacted New Zealand Food Safety for its assistance to assess test results.

'Through our investigation the contamination appears to have occurred in the supply chain en route to New Zealand through a single bulk ship delivery that had previously been used for transporting other materials.”

While the recalls were happening, New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle​ said there were concerns about the way the recall unfolded.

'We expect businesses to run recalls smoothly in the interests of food safety, and that has clearly not happened here.

'To that end we have started an investigation to identify any issues within the businesses' recall process.”

NZ Sugar will appear in the Auckland district court on July 19. The maximum penalty could be more than $1.5m.

-Brianna Mcilraith/Stuff.