Fonterra

Think Park Beede and basketball immediately springs to mind.

Fonterra has to lift its game in food safety and quality, and also sustainability, chief executive Theo Spierings says.

Fonterra's innocuously worded ''Global Dairy Update'', released on Monday, provided another shock to Fonterra Shareholder Fund (FSF) unit holders, Milford Funds senior analyst Brooke Bone says.

Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings says the roll-out of the dairy co-op's infant formula brand in China is "on track" despite the ongoing fallout from the company's botulism fiasco.

Voting is now open for the 2013 Fonterra board of directors' elections. This year there are five candidates standing for the board of directors.

Fonterra's southern shareholders will have an opportunity to meet and question director candidates during a series of roadshows.

With the first anniversary of Trading Among Farmers (TAF) approaching, Craigs Investment Partners broker Greg Easton believes investors are well served taking a cautious approach to Fonterra.

Fonterra has gone some way in reassuring the New Zealand public and its many overseas clients it has taken seriously a report released this week on its internal safety and monitoring systems.

Fonterra says the potential contamination of 14 milk tankers with mud and gravel is a "very minor incident" and its safety systems worked as intended.

Exports leapt higher in September, led by a strong recovery in dairy exports following trade disruptions in August caused by the Fonterra contamination scandal.