CHINA will increase scrutiny on milk powder imports from New Zealand, its quality control watchdog said late Tuesday, after suspected environmental activists threatened to contaminate infant formula in the top global dairy exporter.

    New Zealand police said Tuesday letters were sent to the national farmers’ group and dairy giant Fonterra in November accompanied by packages of infant formula laced with poisonous pesticide 1080, formally called sodium fluoroacetate.

    “China has already taken steps and will demand each batch of milk powder imported from New Zealand has an official New Zealand certificate that it does not contain 1080,” China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement on its website.

    The watchdog added that importers should provide test reports that the product was free from the contaminant, and that dealers should ensure that all packaging was intact. It said there had been no reported cases of poisoning within China.(SD-Agencies)