“Major contamination” found in Australian wool shipment sparks concerns

An investigation is under way to determine the origins of an Australian wool consignment found with a “serious contamination” which could put the reputation of the nations $3.6 billion industry at stake. It is the second time it has happened in a month, prompting a stern warning from the nation’s registering body of wool classers of its “zero tolerance” policy. AWEX this week was alerted by a customer to a “serious contamination” in a consignment from Australia, including multiple pieces of baling twine, string and plastic. It was the same customer which in May received a consignment of 19 classed lots — 176 bales — from across the country including WA, containing clothing, rags and ear-tags. AWEX wool classer registrar Fiona Raleigh said the “level and severity” of contamination recently was concerning and while they were unable to pinpoint the farm the May consignment’s contamination came from, they were hoping to do so for the latest incident. “We don’t know where it came from yet but that is under investigation,” she said. “It could be from one farm bale or multiple farm bales. “In this instance, we believe it was one farm bale. “It looks like a whole garbage bag has found its way in there, but we don’t know.” A social media post alerting the public to the matter sparked concern, with some suggesting such a level of contamination seemed “deliberate”. “I would hope that would not be the case but we can’t dismiss that,” Mrs Raleigh said. She said a “contamination-free” clip was the responsibility of the wool classer and if they were able to determine the source, they would work with them to ensure there were no repeats. “In the AWEX code there are five key objectives in wool clip preparation and one of those is a contamination-free clip — that is one of their core responsibilities,” Mrs Raleigh said. “We will enter communication with the classer and identify what happened and work with them to put strategies in place to prevent it happening again.” She said clothing items could sometimes find their way into a consignment if someone had hung up a jumper in the shed and it had fallen into the wool, but the spools of bailing twine and string in this consignment were considered “major contaminants”. “Anything that acts like a fibre is a major problem as wool is blended so many times,” Mrs Raleigh said. “One piece of twine ends up as 1000 pieces of twine in a tonne of wool.” She urged owners, classers and wool handlers to be vigilant and clean all wool areas before and during shearing and pressing. “If it doesn’t need to be in the shed, it shouldn’t be in the shed,” Mrs Raleigh said. In a global market, Mrs Raleigh said confidence was key and customers could look elsewhere if they did not feel confident in the product they were receiving. “We care about the reputation of the Australian wool industry and we appreciate customers reporting these things,” she said. “A lot of what we do is create confidence so they can buy with confidence. “That is not what they want, no one wants that. “One of the key points of Australian wool is the code of practice and clip preparation. If that’s not upheld then our reputation is at stake. “Without those standards it’s a race to the bottom.” Mrs Raleigh said they were in communication with the customer to find out more information.