Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Eight meat processing companies facing a raft of charges for unlawfully making and exporting millions of dollars of tainted fat and meat and bone meal have pleaded guilty to some of the charges after most were withdrawn.
In March 2023, the Ministry for Primary Industries charged Tuakau Proteins, Wallace Proteins, Taranaki By-Products, Glenninburg Holdings, SBT Group, Brett Marsh Transport, GrainCorp Commodity Management and GrainCorp Liquid Terminals, as well as two company directors and two employees, with multiple breaches of the Animal Products Act and Crimes Act.
It was alleged they knowingly sold tainted tallow and meat and bone meal without the proper certifications and export assurances to Singapore, China and Hong Kong.
In July, Brett Marsh Transport pled guilty to one charge under the Animals Product Act and was ordered to pay a $15,000 fine. The remaining defendants had earlier entered not-guilty pleas and a judge-alone trial was scheduled for next year.
MPI has now withdrawn most of the charges against them, including dropping all charges against former Wallace Proteins manager Curtain Webber.
Seven companies, two company directors and a former employee pled guilty to the remaining charges in Papakura District Court on 14 November.
New Plymouth businessman Glenn Raymond Smith, a director of Glenninburg Holdings, SBT Group and Taranaki By-Products, was facing 14 charges, but this was reduced to three, according to court documents released to RNZ.
Auckland businessman Stephen Eric Dahlenburg, a director of Wallace Proteins and Glenninburg Holdings, faced 10 charges, but pled guilty to two.
Former Taranaki By-Products plant manager, Paul Alfred Drake, faced two charges but pled guilty to just one charge.
The charges related to selling non-compliant animal products and failing to carry out duties as an operator of a risk management programme, which carry fines of up to $500,000.
The companies and individuals will be sentenced in February.
An investigation was launched after MPI received a tip-off from another Tuakau Proteins director in July 2020 that the company "may have been blending vegetable oil with tallow for export in a non-compliant manner". This director was not charged.
"Without that self-reporting, MPI may not have become aware of the offending," an amended statement of facts stated.
Under the original charges, it was alleged the eight companies were involved in unlawfully making and exporting an estimated $29 million of tainted fat and meat and bone meal, but this had since been reduced to approximately $2.25m.
The offending involved the manufacture and sale of contaminated tallow and oils that did not meet MPI's regulation and export assurances for Singapore, China and Hong Kong.
Most of the tainted product was sold to Singapore, China and Hong Kong for input into biofuel production.
Tuakau Proteins owned a rendering plant in Tuakau, but it was destroyed by fire in March 2021.
The company was placed into receivership in 2023 after charges were laid by MPI.
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