Wellington - China's free trade agreement with New Zealand, in effect as of October 1, has Tuesday raised food safety worries following the recent tainted milk scandal.

"Serious concerns have been raised about the safety of food products from China, in light of the infant baby formula debacle and concerns over melamine contamination of White Rabbit sweets and other milk products," said Green Party lawmaker Sue Kedgley in a statement.

"Consumers have the most to lose from this controversial trade agreement," Kedgley said. "Given China's poor food quality standards, I believe we need much more testing of imported food at the border, not fast tracking procedures." In China, milk spiked with melamine, a chemical substance used to make plastic, has resulted in the death of four infants and sickened tens of thousands of children.

The chemical has since been found in many exported products containing tainted milk powder, however, the New Zealand Food Safety Authority has yet to officially recall contaminated products such as the melamine contaminated sweets.

Trade Minister Phil Goff said New Zealand exports would grow between 225 million New Zealand dollars (150 million US dollars) and 350 million New Zealand dollars under the landmark agreement.

New Zealand exports to China are currently worth 2 billion New Zealand dollars per year.

Starting Wednesday, tariffs on 35 per cent of New Zealand's exports to China would be set at zero, according the statement.

In five years time, two-thirds of New Zealand's exports will enter China tariff-free. By 2019, 96 per cent of New Zealand's exports would be free of tariffs.

Media reports in New Zealand this week quoted Chinese officials who said that while they did not expect China's exports or growth to substantially increase as a direct result of the free trade agreement with New Zealand, the agreement was still valuable.

It demonstrated China's commitment to the global economy, and could also serve as a template for future negotiations, according to official from China's embassy in New Zealand's capital Wellington. (dpa)