Ms Wootton said the goats had recently been injected with an anti-worming formula which was harmful to humans.
"The meat has a withholding period of 35 days."
Rotorua Taupo Federated Farmers chairman Neil Heather said livestock theft usually increased during the Christmas period, when people were in search of extra meat.
"It goes on quite a bit. One of the problems is most farmers don't report it so, by the time police find out, the tracks have gone cold."
Mr Heather said using common sense like locking gates, reporting things straight away, keeping animals off the side of the road and out of sight where possible all helped to prevent theft.
Senior Sergeant Malcolm Collins said goat thefts were not common in Rotorua and, to his knowledge, no arrests had been made in regard to this latest incident.