Havelock North gastro outbreak: Ten months on

Ten months after an outbreak of Campylobacter infected 5,500 people in the town of Havelock North, the first stage of a Department of Internal Affairs report has been released. Although sheep faeces has been blamed for the immediate outbreak, the local authorities, Hawkes Bay Regional Council and Hastings District Council, were also criticised for indirectly contributing.

The report cited earlier contamination events which went largely ignored, infrastructure which wasn't up to standard and a lack of communication between the two councils as the basis for their criticism. Although the second stage of the report is ongoing, the report acknowleged they had no legal basis to criticise local farmers whose sheep were most likely the cause. Instead, Producer Ben speaks with Greenpeace New Zealand's Amanda Larrson, about the effect intensive agriculutre may have had.