July 27, 2007

 

New Zealand pork industry all set to expand

 

 

New Zealand's decreasing chicken consumption is reportedly not due to campylobacter but due to its bland taste, according to pork trade players.

 

For this reason, hog groups are preparing to have loins and other pork products to topple chicken meat this year. Analysts say the industry is all prepped up as consumption is up from 16 kilograms (kg) a head a year in 2001 to more than 20 kg -- shunning fatty roasts and chops' perceived risks to human health.

 

Due to the industry's intensive five-year advertising and education campaign, New Zealand pork is now seen as versatile, quick and easy to cook and much preferable to imported pork.

 

The advertisement centred on a series of ads showing comedian Mike King cooking with a variety of cuts from steaks to stir-fries, mince and meatballs to dumplings and kebabs.

 

Supporting this were many Food in a Minute ads and others promoting TrimPork's Heart Foundation tick and nutritional benefits.

 

The growing Asian population, with their preference for pork three or four times a week, has also added to the increase in demand.

 

However, increased demand isn't pushing the industry to produce more.

 

Many farms have been struggling to contain PMWS (Post-weaning Multisystemic Wasting Syndrome), a disease that is harmless to humans but kills up to 10 percent of young stock. A relaxation of import regulations may also open to PRRS (Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome), the world's worst pig disease that kills up to 70 percent of piglets before weaning and another 10 to 15 percent after.

 

Despite the government's supposed deaf ear to pig producers' warnings about PRRS, the industry is putting into place strict measures to prevent it diseases from spreading.

 

An investment into the US$1 billion industry is also underway. The fund will be used to build efficient and healthy housing system and ways to streamline the resource consent process for new piggeries.

 

Advances are also in the offing for environmental advantages and development of biogas plants that make ethanol from waste.