[22] In 2010, leaked US embassy cables suggested New Zealand had only sent troops to Iraq in 2003, following the initial invasion, so Fonterra would keep valuable Oil for Food contracts.

[23][24] In 2019, the Tip Top ice cream brand was sold for NZ$380 million to Froneri, a global joint venture between Nestlé and PAI Partners.

The company's consumer business brands included Anchor, Mainland, Kapiti, Anlene, Anmum, Fernleaf, Western Star, and Perfect Italiano; which comprise 15% of the co-op's total milk solids.

[32][33] On 11 November, Fonterra confirmed that it would be selling its consumer brands including Anchor, Mainland, Kāpiti, Anlene, Anmum, Fernleaf, Western Star, Perfect Italiano.

[49] In November 2007, the board of directors announced[50] a two-year consultation programme regarding their preferred capital re-structuring option: putting the business operations in a separate publicly listed company, with the co-operative maintaining a controlling interest.

Praised by some[51][52] as a bold move which would allow better access to outside capital, the proposals encountered significant opposition from both farmer shareholders and the government (who would be required to pass enabling legislation).

A key goal of the capital structure changes was to stop large amounts of money washing in and out of Fonterra's balance sheet each year as milk production fluctuates.

[54] Under the previous structure, farmers matched their shareholding with their milk production by owning one co-operative share for each kilogram of milksolids (kgMS) produced annually.

[67] Dairying stock entering waterways due to lack of fencing and poor use of fertilisers are major contributors to water pollution in New Zealand.

Fonterra is also a Corporate Sponsor of the Society and each year teams of staff from the company's manufacturing sites participate in the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Clean Up Week campaign, clearing rubbish from around roadsides, sports fields, parks and beaches.

"[81] In 2006, Forest and Bird asked Fonterra to 'clean up its act', instead of obtaining consent to continue to discharge 8,500 cubic metres per day of wastewater into the Manawatu River.

[85] In August 2009, Greenpeace claimed that Fonterra was implicated in the destruction of Indonesian and Malaysian rainforests, causing deaths of orangutans and increased global greenhouse gas emissions.

In August 2016, Fonterra announced a new palm products sourcing standard that was developed in consultation with key supply partners, and following discussions with Greenpeace that began in December 2015.

[92] On 17 November 2009, Greenpeace members protested at Solid Energy's New Vale opencast lignite mine near Gore, New Zealand, by unfurling a 40 by 40-metre banner reading 'Fonterra Climate Crime'.

"[96] In late 2018, Fonterra's Brightwater milk-processing plant, in association with Azwood Energy, began burning wood biomass, alongside coal, to reduce carbon emissions.

[98] In February 2019, 350 Aotearoa, the New Zealand arm of the international climate movement 350.org, produced a video entitled, "Coalterra, Dairy for Death"[99] critical of Fonterra's coal use – estimated at half a million tonnes per year.

[100] Coal Action Network Aotearoa welcomed the decision, but warned against utilising other fossil fuels, such as gas, in substitution, suggesting wood biomass, as a better alternative.

[114] In September 2008, one of the biggest dairy companies in China, the Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group, 43% owned by Fonterra,[115] recalled more than 10,000 tonnes of infant formula after a food safety scandal involving the criminal contamination of its raw milk supply with melamine.

Court papers showed the company first began receiving complaints of children becoming sick after drinking its milk in December 2007, but only stopped production when Fonterra blew the whistle in September 2008.

[116] After the initial focus on Sanlu, China's quality watchdog said that inspectors had also found the chemical melamine in baby formula produced by 22 companies nationwide.

Ms Clark said she first heard of the contamination on 5 September and three days later ordered that Beijing be told directly, bypassing local and provincial Chinese authorities.

It said Fonterra's press release had been "minutely scrutinised by lawyers and spin doctors, and that the company was far less interested in 'moral courage and leadership' than it was in preserving its own position.

[124][125] However, Access Asia, a Shanghai-based consumer consultancy, said Fonterra was a classic example of western executives in China "believ[ing] advice in business books that they must avoid making their local partners 'lose face' at all costs."

[129] In September 2008, Henry van der Heyden, chairman of the board, said "As a direct consequence of the criminal contamination of milk in China, Fonterra has recognised an impairment charge of $139 million against the carrying value of its investment in SanLu.

On 10 October 2008, Ferrier announced in Beijing that Fonterra will "donate NZ$8.4 million to the Soong Ching Ling Foundation over five years for a co-operative charity project to provide medical care and advice to pregnant women and the mothers of infants in rural communities."

Andrew Ferrier said Fonterra was "shocked by the degree of tragedy" and the donated fund is set up to "help over the long-term in infants and maternal mother health."

[138][139] The health ministry has said tests by Sri Lanka's Industrial Technology Institute found DCD in some Fonterra powdered milks and it had ordered their recall.

[138] On 3 August 2013, authorities in New Zealand announced a global recall of up to 1,000 tonnes of dairy products after tests identified a type of bacteria that could cause botulism.

[141] In late August 2013 laboratory test results revealed that the bacteria found in the whey protein concentrate manufactured by Fonterra was not the botulism-causing Clostridium botulinum.

Greenpeace claimed that the Fonterra marketing of milk from "100% New Zealand grass-fed" cows was misleading when up to a fifth of an animal's diet might be imported palm kernel.