June 22, 2006

Kiwis accuse Aussies of taking a free ride on hormones

The New Zealand Pork Board said foreign imports produced through the usage of cheap growth hormones are flooding its market, pointing to neighbouring Australia as the main culprit.

Up to a quarter of Australian pig farmers use a synthetic growth hormone called porcine somatotropin or PST which is injected in the late stages to increase the animal's growth. The hormone also lessens the amount of feed the animal needs, thus cutting costs.

Trengrove says this gives Australian pigs a 20-percent growth advantage over the New Zealand pigs.

Although PST is approved for use in New Zealand, local pork farmers have refused to use it, saying consumers would not take well to hormone-treated pork.

Meat experts dismiss their fears, saying PST merely replicates a hormone that occurs naturally in pigs.

The pork board said that in the first three months of the year the price local farmers got for their animals fell 10 percent thanks to cheaper imported pork.

Forty percent New Zealand's consumption is imported, according to Chris Trengrove, a representative from the pork board. Nearly half comes from Australia, a quarter from Canada and the rest from America, China and Sweden. 

The board said most consumers could not differentiate foreign pork and local pork as there are no country-of-origin labels on meat.

Legislators are now drafting a bill that would force country of origin labelling.