A state-run news agency in China has not stopped in delivering sharp attacks about New Zealand in the wake of Fonterra's botulism scare. The Chinese news agency called New Zealand's 100 per cent pure Pure campaign to boost tourism, a "festering sore". The agency also declared that homes in New Zealand were leaky, damp and uninhabitable because of free market ideology.

In an editorial published in several major news websites in China, news agency Xinhua said it was time to ask the government of New Zealand about quality control. Xinhua is known as the mouthpiece of the Chinese government.

The agency also said New Zealand's health problems are no longer isolated and limited to "mere details". Xinhua believes New Zealand's issues with baby formula were beginning to like something is wrong with the system.

According to Xinhua, "one could argue the country is hostage to a blinkered devotion to laissez-faire market ideology". The agency also said many people in New Zealand were victims of the same market ideology during the deregulation of the construction industry 20 years ago. This apparently resulted in leaky and damp homes that were not suitable living conditions.

The editorial acknowledged that the New Zealand government should not be blamed for Fonterra's costly food safety issue. The news agency believes Prime Minister John Key and the New Zealand government should be held accountable for nothing was done about the issue of contamination before the milk products were approved for domestic and international consumption.

Xinhua also went on to describe Mr. Key's defence of New Zealand's tourism campaign, 100 per cent Pure. In April 2013, New Zealand PM John Key compared the slogan to McDonald's "I'm loving it" campaign. The news agency said the slogan needs to be fixed before trading partners stop loving New Zealand, apparently referring to China's recent import ban on some milk products from New Zealand.

A source from the baby formula industry said the Chinese government would take advantage of New Zealand's botulism scare as it continues to rebuild its own baby formula industry. China's baby formula industry took a nosedive in 2008 when six babies were killed and thousands became sick due to the melamine scandal.

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