Q+A: "A void of communication
Q+A: "A void of communication between, I’ll say, MPI and the exporters"- Infant Formula Exporters' Association Michael Barnett
“A void of communication between, I’ll say, MPI and the exporters , so they’ve continued to export; their end product has not been tested,” says Infant Formula Exporters’ Association Chairman Michael Barnett on TV One’s Q+A programme over the way the 1080 threat has been handled.
“I think it’s going to be a case of ‘there’s a constituency out there – doesn’t matter whether you’re Fonterra or whether you’re a small exporter. You deserve
a communication that keeps you in the loop. If that had happened, there would have been less noise in the market and less frustration and tension.”
Michael Barnett says it will impact some of his members in the pocket.
“The production that these people have got in place and the orders that they thought they had in place, the cashflow that they thought they had in place has
stopped. What they’re waiting on now is for a distributor come back and put in place those orders and confirm them again. They’ve taken a hit.”
Mr Barnett is also critical of the government for going public when they did.
“I think irrespective of what happens, there’s always going to be a number of opinions. I think if I have a look at the major food distributors around the world
associated with food, associated with beverage, most that I have spoken to and most experts that we have spoken to have said, ‘You do not go public on
these sorts of issues.’
Q+A, 9-10am Sundays on TV ONE and one hour later on TV ONE plus 1. Repeated Sunday evening at 11:35pm. Streamed live atwww.tvnz.co.nz
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