NZ Politics

New baby formula standards were designed to prioritise infant nutrition and take the pressure off parents. But for formula companies, profits were at stake. And that's when the lobbying kicked in.

Concerns about misleading marketing claims on the tins was one of the reasons public health experts from New Zealand and Australia spent the past decade writing a set of regulations that would prioritise infant nutrition above all other interests.

Over 11 years, officials commissioned 36 public reports, five consumer studies and 40 stakeholder workshops, and wrote draft after draft. The regulations were all but signed and due to be implemented this year.

But in August, the government opted out of the trans-Tasman proposal last-minute, citing costs to exporters. While Australia will implement the new standards in 2030, New Zealand now intends to develop its own.

This RNZ investigation uses background interviews with industry insiders, officials and experts as well as documents obtained under the Official Information Act to show how the formula industry lobbied the government to put private profit before public health, and won.