Boss Talk Asia

Fonterra Aims to Rebuild Consumer Confidence

CEO Theo Spierings discusses how he managed the latest food-safety scare and the dairy exporter's plans to rebuild consumer confidence.

Sept. 29, 2013 12:43 p.m. ET

When Theo Spierings's phone rang on Aug. 1, he knew it must be bad news. The chief executive of Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd., the world's biggest dairy exporter, was in Europe to attend a family funeral, and he didn't expect to be disturbed.

But the message passed to him from the company's headquarters in New Zealand couldn't wait: Bacteria had been discovered in some of the company's milk products.

So began a chain of...

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