Fonterra says its customers affected by the botulism scare have accounted for "all but a small amount" of potentially contaminated goods.
Head of NZ milk products Gary Romano told reporters at a news conference this evening that the dairy giant was not aware of any consumers becoming sick from contaminated products.
But he was unable to say how much of the 38 tonnes of potentially contaminated whey protein - used for a range of products including infant formula - might have been consumed.
"It's very difficult today for us to make that statement," Romano said. "We will be working with our customers to try to get more certainty around that."
Romano fended off criticism from reporters that Fonterra had been giving a confusing message to consumers about the scare, and apologised for making an incorrect statement about affected Karicare infant formula products on television last night.
"The reasons for [giving the incorrect information] were normal human ones; on the spot I thought I had an understanding of the situation and I was not correct at the time and I've tried to right that today."
On TV3's Campbell Live Romano said all Karicare infant formula products were affected by the potential contamination, but only Karicare Stage 1 and Stage 2 Gold Plus products are believed to be affected.
"We will be as transparent and open as we can," Romano said. "We also move with speed. Sometimes that speed means we don't have all the complete information with us."
He said there had been no discussions between Fonterra and its customers over compensation claims.
"It hasn't been the focus to date," Romano said.
Fonterra's head of communications, Kerry Underhill, said the company believed it had fulfilled its market disclosure requirements to the stock market during the crisis.
The Financial Markets Authority said it is concerned about the time it took for Fonterra to disclose the potential contamination to the NZX.
The company received test results that indicated the presence of the Clostridium Botulinum bacteria on Wednesday, but didn't announce the problem until the early hours of Saturday morning.
Underhill said Fonterra was in talks with its lawyers over the market disclosure issue.
Fonterra revealed at the weekend that a dirty pipe at its Hautapu plant in Waikato might have contaminated three batches of a whey protein, known as WPC80.
Countries affected include New Zealand, China, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.
- By Christopher Adams of the NZ Herald
