Responding to pressure from National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), and in the context of attempting to persuade the US to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement, New Zealand undertook a risk assessment on pork, which found negligible risk of disease transmission from consumer-ready cuts of uncooked pork.

The New Zealand Pork Industry Board (NZPork) had battled the move through the country's court system. Most recently, in 2013 NZPork appealed to the Supreme Court, which approved the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries and its Import Health Standard for pork products from countries with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), including the US.

PRRS is not a food-safety issue, and there is negligible risk of PRRS transmission from the legal importation of pork from countries with the disease. In fact, based on a conservative risk assessment model, New Zealand's chances of getting PRRS from legally imported uncooked pork products are such that it would get one case every 1,227 years.

NPPC's perseverance paid off as the US pork industry now has access to the New Zealand market, paving the road towards liberalisation in other countries with PRRS restrictions such as Australia and South Africa.