New Zealand's first government food safety lab -- proposed after last year's global recall of dairy products by Fonterra -- is to open at the country's leading agricultural sciences university next year, the government announced Wednesday.
The new Food Safety Science and Research Centre would promote, co-ordinate and deliver food safety science and research for New Zealand, said Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce and Food Safety Minister Jo Goodhew.
It was a key recommendation from the Government Inquiry into the Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC) Contamination Incident, which saw Fonterra launch a global recall of a batch of WPC falsely suspected to have been contaminated with a botulism-causing bacterium in August last year.
"New Zealand's food exports are dependent on a robust and internationally credible food safety system," Joyce said in a statement.
"It is vital therefore that New Zealand is a visible leader in food safety science and research, and remains a producer of trusted, high-quality food products."
The center, expected to open in mid-2015, would be managed by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and the Ministry for Primary Industries and be co-funded by the government and industry partners.