There are public relations lessons to be learned from the botulism scare for Fonterra and the wider agricultural industry, Federated Farmers vice-president William Rolleston says.
Although the majority of the media had done a good job of covering the issue, there were some ''irresponsible'' stories written about the issue and it provided lessons for the agriculture industry, Dr Rolleston said.
''I think the message that it was a precautionary recall wasn't really put out there,'' he said.
''It was portrayed as a definitive fact that this [whey protein] had botulism.
''When these things come out, there's a temptation to cover the negative.''
Otago Daily Times editor Murray Kirkness said it was not the media's job to decide whether an issue was positive or negative and he felt in ''general terms'' the issue had been covered fairly and accurately.
''If you put the words botulism and scare and Fonterra in a sentence, it's pretty hard to see how that's going to be portrayed as a positive,'' Mr Kirkness said.
Many in the agriculture industry, including Federated Farmers president Bruce Wills, have expressed the view that New Zealand's media portrays the industry in a negative light.
However, Mr Kirkness said he believed it was a reality for many industries that the only time they received nationwide coverage was at times of scandal.
Regionally, many newspapers, including the Otago Daily Times and Southland Times, covered the rural sector in depth, he said.
''Every Monday, we run rural pages,'' Mr Kirkness said.
''And most of those would be seen as quite positive news.''
Dr Rolleston said he did not believe the ''media was entirely responsible'' for how the issue was portrayed and Fonterra were going to ''have to take a look at themselves''.
Fonterra announced on August 3 that whey protein produced in May might contain bacteria which causes botulism - a disease which affects the nervous and respiratory systems and can result in death.
The announcement resulted in cessation of some imports of dairy products by some countries, including China.
The Ministry for Primary Industries announced late last month the whey protein contained the bacteria Clostridium sporogenes, which was not usually a food safety risk, and not Clostridium botulinum as was feared.
''There definitely are some messages to be learned in terms of communication,'' Dr Rolleston said.
He felt Fonterra had got things right in terms of food safety for the most part, although he ''wouldn't give them an A+'', but their public relations left something to be desired, he said.
''Accuracy of information is pretty paramount,'' Dr Rolleston said.
''The moment you need to change a story, your credibility is immediately threatened.''
However, in the long-term, he believed the way Fonterra handled the recall and provided information as it became available would increase its international standing.
When contacted by Southern Rural Life last week, a spokesman for Fonterra said it would be ''inappropriate'' for the company to comment on the matter.
- Timothy Brown.