Cabinet overruled food safety minister's recommendation on infant formula
Tuesday, 30 September 2025
The Cabinet overruled Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard by bowing to industry concerns and opting out of a trans‑Tasman infant formula standard last year, documents show.
Officials resisted making Hoggard’s recommendation public until now, but have finally been pushed by the Ombudsman to release previously redacted sections of his Cabinet paper following a complaint from The Post.
The paper reveals Hoggard had recommended adopting the standard while still hoping to address the concerns of manufacturers about its product labelling rules.
Cabinet ministers decided not to adopt Food Standards Australia and New Zealand’s (Fsanz’s) mammoth 445-page update to the standard in August last year after lobbying by the infant formula industry.
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Adopting the standard would prevent manufacturers promoting individual ingredients on labels, with that information only able to be shown as a simple list of ingredients.
That change has been supported by some public health experts who argue infant formula brands are similar nutritionally and statements on packaging can be ‘marketing’ dressed up as product information that may encourage parents to unnecessarily use formula in place of breast milk.
A research paper published by Sydney University academics in July argued the New Zealand Government had bowed to lobbying pressure targeting the Prime Minister and key ministers, demonstrating what they described as a remarkable level of access and influence for commercial interests.
“This case exposes the weaknesses in New Zealand’s political transparency laws, where no mandatory lobbying registers and reporting requirements exist,” they said.
Danone’s Sydney-based director of legal compliance, Maria Venetoulis, had warned the Fsanz standard would make New Zealand-made formula uncompetitive in China, where its competition includes formula imported from the European Union which is not subject to the same restrictions.
She warned in July last year that if the Government adopted the trans-Tasman standard, the French firm might pull manufacturing out of New Zealand with the potential loss of 441 jobs in Auckland and Otago and $1 billion in annual exports.
That warning appeared to swing Cabinet ministers, but not Hoggard, who sits outside Cabinet and who it is now confirmed recommended Fsanz’s standard while attempting to address the industry’s labelling concerns down the track.
“Adopting the amended infant formula standard supports New Zealand’s reputation in the infant formula market,” he advised colleagues in his Cabinet paper.
He recommended Cabinet adopt the standard and work with the industry “to gather and assess evidence on which to base further amendment to the standard in line with New Zealand’s interests”.
Hoggard faced accusations of a potential conflict of interest in April when RNZ reported his sister, who is the executive director of the Dairy Companies Association, advised his office against introducing the tougher regulations.
The Cabinet paper shows any such lobbying of the ACT Party MP did not have the effect of winning him over.
But Labour food safety spokesperson Rachel Brooking said it raised further questions over the course of action the Government did take.
“I wonder how well the members of Cabinet understood the issues at hand and why they went against the minister who would have taken specialist advice on it.”
She said her concern was not with lobbying itself, as that could play a role in avoiding unforeseen consequences.
“My concern is that some senior ministers don't ask for the other side of the story.”
Industry sources said the options for the Government now it has opted out of the standard remain unresolved.
New Zealand has no agency charged with producing its own food standard and there are fears the opt-out will prompt the Australian government to block New Zealand-produced infant formula being sold in Australia when Fsanz’s new standard comes into full effect there in 2029.
That could disrupt the historically significant “Daigou” trade, through which Chinese tourists buy infant formula in Australia and take it back in suitcases to be resold online inside China.
In January, in a move that some industry sources believe may be related, Fsanz reclassified all imported infant formula products as “medium to high risk”.
The drip feed of disclosure
July 21, 2024: Danone warns 441 jobs in Auckland and Otago and $1b in annual exports could be lost if the Government doesn’t block or secure changes to the trans-Tasman infant formula standard, specifically voicing concern over the effect its labelling rules could have on exports to China.
August 5, 2024: Cabinet announces New Zealand will opt out of the standard.
August 6, 2024: The Post uses the Official Information Act to request from the Cabinet Office the paper Hoggard took to Cabinet on the trans-Tasman infant formula standard and a copy of the minute of the final decision, under the Official Information Act.
August 12, 2024: The request is transferred to the Ministry for Primary industries (MPI).
September 9, 2024: MPI advises it will respond by October 7.
October 7, 2024: MPI declines the OIA request but says the Cabinet paper and minute will soon be “pro-actively” released.
November 11, 2024: The ministry changes its mind saying they won’t be released. It cites sections of the OIA that allow the withholding of information that could “prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand or the international relations of the Government” and to protect the confidentiality of advice tendered by ministers and officials. The Post lodges a complaint the Office of the Ombudsman.
January 7, 2025: Ombudsman commences investigation.
March 25, 2025: Ombudsman makes provisional ruling, consults with MPI.
May 7, 2025: Ombudsman says MPI has advised that it is prepared to release the Cabinet paper and minute with some redactions.
May 23, 2025: MPI advises The Post it has “reconsidered the request” and releases a redacted copy of the Cabinet paper and minute containing little unknown information. The Post declines to drop the complaint.
September 8, 2025: The Ombudsman decides MPI was entitled to withhold some redacted parts of the Cabinet paper under a section of the OIA that relates to the security or defence of New Zealand or the international relations of the Government — but not other parts of the Cabinet paper that had been withheld on the ground of protecting the confidentiality of advice.
He recommends MPI release more information and asks it to notify him by September 22 what steps are being taken to give effect to his decision.
Friday, 4.14pm, September 26, 2025: MPI director of government services Michelle Morehu releases a copy of the Cabinet paper and minute which reveal Hoggard’s advice was to adopt the trans-Tasman standard. It shows that all seven paragraphs in which Hoggard conveyed that advice were blanked out from the version it released on May 23.