KEY POINTS:
Agriculture officials say they plan to relax rules on importing some uncooked pork from countries where a devastating pig disease occurs.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's biosecurity arm yesterday released for consultation four draft import health standards for pig meat imported from Canada, the US, Mexico and
the European Union.
The draft standards are based on a risk analysis for porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus - found widely in countries outside New Zealand and Australia. PRRS has been associated with up to 70 per cent of piglets dying before weaning, and a further 15 per cent dying post-weaning.
The new standards were requested by exporting countries, and were opposed by many New Zealand pig farmers during the five years taken to prepare the risk analysis released in July last year. The farmers have said they are concerned that potentially infected uncooked pork may be fed to "backyard pigs" or other non-commercial pigs.
At present about 42 per cent of pork sold in New Zealand is imported, but is only allowed in from countries with PRRS virus if the meat is treated.
MAF proposes allowing the pork to enter the country without treatment if it is in the form of ready-to-cook cuts or is immediately processed into those cuts.
"The likelihood of the virus being present in these imported ready-to-cook cuts is very low," said Biosecurity New Zealand's director of border standards, Tim Knox.
There would then have to be a complex chain of events for any virus which did cross the border to spread in NZ pigs.
"The studies that have been done by the Canadians have shown that the level [of virus] present in animals at slaughter is 1.2 per cent," he said.
European studies had shown the normal commercial preparation of pork for shipping would destroy between 99 per cent and 99.99 per cent of the virus. "The risk is extremely low," said Mr Knox.
But because some farmers felt strongly about the issue, the consultation period had been extended to 90 days, to February 18, when the public submissions would be considered.
Mr Knox said some stakeholders contested the conclusions of the risk analysis and said the proposed measures were insufficient to keep the virus out of New Zealand animals, but the EU, US and Canada claimed the current precautions could not be scientifically unjustified.
"We consider the PRRS risk associated with ready-to-cook pork imports to be negligible if the measures proposed in the import health standards are applied," he said.
Pig meat was imported into New Zealand without precautions against the PRRS virus until 2001, when a study showed it was capable of being transmitted in infected meat, particularly lymph nodes.
Professor Roger Morris, from Massey University's EpiCentre, has previously said while there are 250 commercial pig farmers who would not feed uncooked meat to pigs, there are thousands of people who have only a couple of pigs.
Massey's own risk analysis showed a 3 to 20 times potential for NZ pigs to be infected if the new rules were introduced.
- NZPA