Organic baby food manufacturer, Green Monkey, is suing its former packaging producer to recover almost $1 million in costs following a 2011 product recall.
Chief executive of Green Monkey, Charlotte Rebbeck, told the High Court in Auckland that her aspirations of making Green Monkey a leading and ethical exporter were ruined after a product recall in 2011 resulted in lost sales and damaged the brand’s reputation.
According to Rebbeck, an Australian baby choked on a small plastic disc found in a Green Monkey baby food pouch, and while the baby was first diagnosed as having an allergic reaction, the doctor later said it was more likely related to two earlier complaints where mothers found small plastic discs in the product.
The company’s packaging producer at the time was Aperio, who used a Malaysian manufacturer to create the pouches, but Rebbeck said she was assured the packaging would meet stringent EU packaging regulations, stuff.co.nz reports.
Now operating under the name Green Zoo, Green Monkey wanted to recall products after the first complaint was made, but Aperio said it was a once-off. Once more complaints were made, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of product were recalled and Aperio then avoided absorbing responsibility or costs, Rebbeck said.
At the time of the recall, Green Monkey had distributors in Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United States and the United Arab Emirates, while also supplying to Woolworths supermarkets in Australia. The company lost all its international customers at the time and the recall meant Green Monkey effectively had a six month gap in supplying products to distributors that still wanted the products.
"This completely ruined our brand, but left Aperio completely undamaged,” Rebbeck said.