August 28, 2007

New Zealand fears relaxed rules on pork will bring PRRS

New Zealand risks having its pig population threatened by the deadly Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome (PRRS) disease if it follows through on a proposed amendment to a law which would allow chilled pork imports.

Current New Zealand laws only allow frozen or treated pork.

However Biosecurity New Zealand has proposed to change the import rules which would allow chilled meat to be imported.

According to Massey University animal health professor Roger Morris, there is a big risk that the disease could enter New Zealand.

Research have shown that feeding food waste containing diseased pork to pigs can infect them.

However, Biosecurity New Zealand said measures have been put in place to reduce the possibility of that happening, such as only allowing high-value cuts of imported pig meat. Such high value products would be unlikely to be used as food waste to be fed to pigs. 

Biosecurity also says it has also stepped up public education campaigns to enhance awareness on the ban on feeding pig meat to pigs.

New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world free from the disease.

New Zealand Pork Industry Board chairman, Chris Trengrove, said there were major flaws in Biosecurity New Zealand's analysis and that such a move was potentially disastrous not only for the pig industry in the country, but also for others in the animal industry as well.