Two companies who sold raw milk without being registered have been fined over $20,000.

Paul Ashton of Lindsay Farm and Daniel Sproull of Gorge Fresh Organics, also known as Yaw Milk, were both sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday.

Ashton was fined $27,500 and Sproull was fined $20,000. New Zealand Food Safety prosecuted the pair following investigations into their raw milk businesses.

The court heard Ashton’s Lindsay Farm in Hawke’s Bay sold around 2500 bottles of raw milk a week with financial reports showing revenue of nearly $600,000 in 2019.

They offered their customers a “limited partnership” and falsely claimed the arrangement exempted them from registration because customers were buying milk from cows they owned.

New Zealand Food Safety contacted the company a number of times, reminding them to comply. Despite being issued a Notice of Direction prohibiting sale and distribution of raw milk until they registered, they continued selling raw milk.

Foodborne illness cases, including children, were linked to raw milk from Lindsay Farm, including an outbreak of Campylobacter in August 2020. It was only after this event that Lindsay Farm registered under the regulations.

Sproull’s Palmerston North-based Yaw Milk business was also never registered to sell or deliver raw milk and instead sold it through a “dairy husbandry agreement programme”. The company illegally delivered milk to pre-arranged collection points and the investigation by NZFS also found some milk was unlabelled.

The sentencings are part of a wider New Zealand Food Safety investigation which began in late 2019, to ensure raw milk production in New Zealand is compliant and risks are reduced.

So far nine operators have been charged with offences against the Animal Products Act, including knowingly causing risk to human health, failing to register, and failing to comply with legal directions to cease trading.

NZFS deputy director general, Vincent Arbuckle, said the latest sentences send a strong message to people or businesses that try to circumvent rules in place to protect public safety.

“Raw milk is inherently riskier in comparison to milk that has been pasteurised to kill potentially harmful bacteria. These pathogens can be particularly dangerous for vulnerable communities, including the young, the old, pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems.

“All producers of food owe it to their customers to follow food safety rules. This is particularly the case for people who sell raw milk. Most raw milk producers understand their responsibility. Those who do not, should understand that we will act in the interests of public health.

“We’re not saying people can’t drink raw drinking milk. What we are saying is that when people choose to have it, they’re able to make that choice with a degree of confidence that the milk they’re consuming is produced within the regulatory framework,” he said.

“Compliance with the rules would have cost both companies $10,000 to $15,000 a year, a small amount compared to the risk of exposing their customers to unnecessary risk.”