Zealand officials \”blew the whistle\” on the sale of contaminated milk linked to the death of at least one baby in China, Prime Minister Helen Clark says. The contaminated milk powder was sold by New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra’s Chinese joint venture partner, Sanlu – raising fears the scandal could taint New Zealand’s reputation in the massive market.

　　总理海伦·克拉克说，新西兰官员曾经“揭发”受到污染的牛奶被出售，该牛奶在中国至少导致一名婴儿死亡。受到污染的奶粉由新西兰奶业巨头恒天然的中国合作伙伴三鹿销售，由此丑闻引发的恐慌可能在巨大市场面前败坏新西兰的声誉。.

　　The Green Party is questioning why Fonterra did not go public with concerns after it yesterday revealed it had been aware of the contamination since mid-August, despite a full public recall only being initiated last week. But Miss Clark today said Fonterra had pushed for a full recall at the earliest possible opportunity but had been blocked by Chinese local government officials. \”They have been trying for weeks to get official recall and the local authorities in China would not do it,\” she said on TVNZ’s Breakfast programme.

　　绿党（译者注：新西兰的在野党）质问为什么恒天然没有公开该情况，昨天恒天然披露尽管上周刚刚开始一个全面的公开召回，但是它在8月中旬就已经知道污染事件了。不过克拉克女士今天说，恒天然曾经力促在尽可能最早的时候进行全面召回，但是该建议被中国地方政府官员阻止了。“他们几周前曾经尝试通过官方召回，中国当地政府不想那么做，”她在新西兰电视台的“早餐”节目中说。

　　Miss Clark said the first she knew about the issue was on September 5. Three days later she convened a meeting of senior ministers at which she ordered officials to leapfrog the local officials and immediately inform their superiors in Beijing. \”As you can imagine when New Zealand Government blew the whistle in Beijing a very heavy hand then descended on the local authorities,\” she said. \”At a local level…I think the first inclination was to try and put a towel over it and deal with it without an official recall. That is never what we would do in New Zealand.

　　克拉克女士说她第一次知道该事是在9月5日。三天后她召集高级部长们开了一个会，她命令官员们跳过当地官员立刻通知他们在北京的上一级官员。“你可以想像新西兰政府向北京告发，然后非常严厉的措施压向当地政府，”她说。“在地方层面……我想一开始的意向是试图压住此事，然后不采取公开召回的方法来处理。在新西兰我们是从来不会这么做的。”

　　 Green Party health spokeswoman Sue Kedgley said Fonterra should have gone public immediately of discovering the problem. \”Instead Fonterra said nothing, during which time several more babies became sick. Fonterra should have bypassed local officials and demanded a recall at a national level. \”\”While I am pleased the New Zealand Government alerted Chinese officials straight away, I’m disappointed that they chose not to go public.\” Ms Kedgley said the case highlighted the absence of country of origin labelling in New Zealand and consumers may not realise some milk products were imported from China.

　　绿党的健康事务女发言人苏·凯奇莉说，恒天然本应该立刻向公众揭露问题。“与之相反，在几个婴儿患病的期间恒天然没有告之任何事情。恒天然应该绕开当地官员在全国层面进行召回。”“在我为新西兰政府直接向中国官员发出警告感到高兴同时，我对他们没有选择向公众告之感到失望。”凯奇莉女士说此事件警示，在新西兰缺少标注原产国，消费者可能没有意识到一些牛奶产品是从中国进口的。

　　Miss Clark said she hoped the scandal would not affect Fonterra’s reputation, but it showed to the company it could not be \”naive\” in its foreign operations and had to insist on its own high standards. \”I think Fonterra, from the advice I have had, has behaved responsibly at all times, but it has been dealing in a political system at a local level in China where the inclination is to cover things up, but I have to say once we blew the whistle in Beijing they moved very fast.\”

　　克拉克女士说她希望这个丑闻不会影响到恒天然的声誉，不过这个事情显示该公司在海外运作时不能太“天真”，应该坚持它自己高标准。“我想来自我这里的建议是，恒天然在任何时候都应该采取负责的行动，但是它该公司一直在应对中国地方层面的政治体系，那里倾向于掩盖事情，不过我必须说一旦我们向北京告发以后，他们行动非常快。”

　　The milkpowder poisoned with melamine, an industrial chemical which can boost the apparent protein content in some standard tests on food, is reported to have killed one baby and made another 432 sick with kidney damage. Trade Minister Phil Goff last night told NZPA other major dairy companies, such as Nestle, had been caught up in similar scandals in the past and it was possible several other companies had also supplied the contaminated milkpowder.

　　该奶粉中添加了三氯氰胺，一种工业化工品能在一些食品的标准检测中提高显现的蛋白质含量，据报道它已经导致一名婴儿死亡另外432名出现肾损害疾病。贸易部长菲尔·高夫昨晚告诉新西兰新闻通讯社，其他主要牛奶公司像雀巢在以前也被发现了相似的丑闻，受污染的奶粉也有可能提供给了其他几家公司。

　　Fonterra has a 43 per cent stake in Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co Ltd, which ordered a product recall on September 11. The Chinese Government has since ordered it to stop production. A Fonterra spokesman yesterday said company representatives in China were seeking a meeting with the Chinese government to discuss the issue. \”We will be assisting where we can with the investigation,\” he said. But because an investigation was under way, \”and the sensitivities around it\”, the company declined further comment..

　　恒天然拥有石家庄三鹿集团有限公司43％的股票，该公司在9月11日宣布了产品召回。中国政府也同时命令它停产。一名恒天然的发言人昨天说，他们在中国的代表已经寻求和中国政府会面一商讨此事件。“我们将在我们所能进行的领域协助调查，”他说。不过由于调查正在进行，“有关此事很敏感”，该公司拒绝发表更多评论。

　　NZ Centre for Business Ethics director Rodger Spiller said there was a lot of interest in how Fonterra would deal with the contamination issue. \”Reputation is their greatest asset. People are going to want to know how that principle is being applied and what happened in this context.

　　新西兰商业道德规范中心主任罗杰·斯皮勒说，恒天然如何处理这场污染事件有不少有意思的地方。“声誉是他们最大的资产。人们希望知道那个原则如何执行，这次将会有什么事情发生。”

　　The China Daily newspaper said Sanlu had promised its own investigation after determining that samples of its formula manufactured before August 6 had been contaminated. While it wasn’t clear what changed after that date, the timing suggests it could coincide with Fonterra’s discovery of the problem. It has also been reported that Sanlu received complaints as early as March and recalled some of its production, but did not report the problem to the Government or officials.

　　《中国日报》说，三鹿在认定8月6日之前生产的配方样本受到污染后，曾经许诺进行它自己的调查。不过还不清楚在那天之后出现了什么变化，此时间点提示这可能与恒天然发现问题时间相符合。还有报道说，三鹿早在三月份就收到了投诉召回了它的一部分产品，不过没有向政府或官员报告问题。

　　Vice Governor Yang Chongyong of Hebei province, where Sanlu Group is located, said investigators wanted to know whether information on the contamination was suppressed. \”We will look into whether government at any level was negligent or whether any officials tried to withhold information,\” Yang said. \”If we find anyone did this, they will be held accountable.\”

　　三鹿集团所在的河北省副省长杨崇勇说，调查人员希望知道这个污染消息是否被压制。“我们将调查各级政府是否存在玩忽职守，或者是否有任何官员试图压制信息，”杨说。“如果我们发现任何人做了这种事情，他们将会受到严肃查处。”

　　China’s health minister blamed the Fonterra joint venture for delays in warning the public about the contaminated milkpowder, the Associated Press news agency reported. Government officials said 19 people had been detained and 78 were being questioned about how the banned chemical was added to the milk. Officials complained they were not alerted until September 9, even though Sanlu got complaints as early as March and its tests found melamine in the milk in August.

　　美联社报道说，中国卫生部部长斥责恒天然的合作伙伴拖延向公众警示受到污染的奶粉。政府官员说就如何将禁用的化学品加入牛奶中的问题，已经有19人被拘留，78人受到问讯。官员抱怨说尽管三鹿早在三月份就收到了投诉，而且该公司在八月份就检测到了三氯氰胺，但是他们直到9月9日才收到通报。