Until last week, New Zealand's dairy industry was king of the global dairy world, especially in China where its billion population needs a substantial amount of quality milk product that middle-class Chinese didn't mind paying a few more yuan for the white liquid with the Made-in-New Zealand tag.

All that premium status could be wiped out because of the botulism scare caused by the admission of dairy giant Fonterra that its Waikato plant produced accidentally whey contaminated with bacteria that could cause death to people who consume infant milk formula and sports drink made with whey.

Henry Chung, a marketing expert and researcher and associate professor at Massey University gave the warning on Wednesday at the New Zealand Parliament hearing in Wellington. The focus of the hearing, though, was the length of time it took Fonterra to inform the John Key-led government of the whey contamination even if the dairy giant, New Zealand's largest company, was aware since March 2013.

However, it informed the government only on Aug 2, two days after tests confirmed the contamination of the whey. The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) and Assure Quality, a commercial company owned by the New Zealand government, also found out about the contamination on the same day, said MPI acting Director General Scott Gallacher.

He disclosed two batches of the contaminated whey were shipped to Australia but are contained in a warehouse and two batches were sent to Hong Kong for distribution but have been subject to a product recall.

However, Mr Chung said that all is not yet lost for Fonterra if it handles well this crisis of confidence in their products by proving to Chinese consumers that the company has thoroughly reviewed its systems and their procedures are completely safe.

"If they can do that quickly, I think there is every chance they will continue to be considered a premium brand in China. But if this process takes too long or there are any further issues in the immediate future, then domestic manufacturers may gain a foothold," The New Zealand Herald quoted Mr Chung.

Fonterra Chief Executive Thor Spierings returned on the same day from China where he attempted to appease Chinese consumers. He did the same thing to New Zealand customers on Wednesday.

"Like I said in China, I do apologise to the consumers and to the public for the anxiety and distress that this has caused," Mr Spierings said.

He assured them that all contaminated stock in New Zealand had been contained after Fonterra and regulatory agencies located eight customers and secured products not in the market as well as initiated product recalls in retail outlets.

In China, Fonterra's biggest market, more product recalls were made by largest beverage maker Hangzhou Wahaha Health Food Corp, infant nutrition firm Dumex and government-owned food manufacturer Shanghai Sugar Cigarette and Wine Co.

Dumex, based in Shanghai, had imported over 208 metric tonnes of the contaminated whey from Fonterra that were used on 12 batches of baby formula products confirmed to be affected, which it had destroyed.

Sugar Cigarette imported 4.8 tonnes of Fonterra products which it passed to its client, Coca-Cola Shanghai, that used 25 kilogrammes of the deadly whey to manufacture drinks which blend fruits with milk sold under the brand Minute Maid.

Wahaha imported almost 15 tonnes of the whey that is used to make Nutri-Express fermented whey drink. Unfortunately, most of these drinks left Wahaha's factory in February and had been sold out and probably consumed by now.

Despite the recalls, Dumex's baby formula and Wahaha's drinks were still found on Sunday in two supermarkets, WuMart and Ito Yokado, located in the Chaoyang district in Beijing.

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