New Zealand Sugar Company, trading as Chelsea Sugar, has been fined $149,500 for manufacturing, distributing and selling sugar products contaminated with lead, according to a statement by the Ministry of Primary Industries.

In November and December 2021, the company recalled thousands of packs of sugar products because of potential low level lead contamination.

Two other product recalls were needed when it was later discovered New Zealand Sugar Company provided incorrect information to supermarkets, resulting in more sugar products being released to consumers.

"These recalls had a significant impact on consumer access to certain sugar products, such as brown sugar. It also affected a large number of other businesses which had to recall products made with the contaminated sugar," said New Zealand Food Safety deputy director general Vincent Arbuckle.

In the Auckland District Court, the company was sentenced on two charges it pleaded guilty to in May last year, including breaching its National Programme (NP) – designed to manage any food risk to consumers – along with negligently endangering, harming, creating, or increasing risk to consumers by distributing its product.

A sentencing hearing was held in September last year and the court has released its reserved decision today.

"New Zealand Sugar Company knew what its responsibilities were to consumers – ensuring the safety and suitability of its products and managing any potential risk to consumers," said Arbuckle.

"It failed to properly detect the extent of lead contamination until after the imported sugar had been used in production.

"Offending at this scale is rare, and the Court’s sentence today sends a strong message that it will not be tolerated."

In September 2021, the New Zealand Sugar Company imported sugar from Australia that became contaminated with lead during sea transport. From this sugar it manufactured and distributed 971 tonnes of contaminated sugar products to businesses in New Zealand.

The sugar had been freighted to New Zealand from Australia aboard the cargo ship Rin Treasure – a vessel that had been used to ship metal sulphide concentrates (lead and zinc) on its previous voyage.

Before choosing this ship, New Zealand Sugar Company was advised the vessel failed a survey report on September 3, meaning it was not fit to load and transport bulk sugar. Prior to its departure, the vessel was cleaned, and a cleanliness report certified the vessel’s hold was in a fit state for the stowage and carriage of raw sugar.

However, the cleaning was not effective, and the cargo of sugar became contaminated with lead during the journey from Queensland. This contamination may have been potentially exacerbated by a broken pipe aboard the vessel that spilled water into the sugar during the cargo unloading process by contractors.

Samples of the sugar were collected between September 15 and 24 for testing but New Zealand Sugar Company followed its normal process of producing sugar products from the cargo for distribution and sale.

NZ Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said the offending by NZSC was at a rare scale. Photo/Supplied.

"The test result on 7 October showed high readings of lead contamination, but rather than take immediate action and stop production and distribution, they instead sought more testing which confirmed the same result.

"Some of this product was sold between October and early November. We were not informed of the lead contamination until 3 November, which is unacceptable," said Arbuckle.

"New Zealand Sugar Company’s lack of definitive action resulted in a consumer level recall of sugar products on 4 November – around 6 weeks after the contaminated product arrived in New Zealand.

"Although the short-term exposure to increased lead levels through these sugar products  would not have endangered people’s health – we cannot afford to take a chance on public health."

if anyone has concerns about a food product, they can contact New Zealand Food Safety on 0800 008 333 or use the online food complaint tool

For further information and general enquiries, email info@mpi.govt.nz