The Alliance Group's business practices are unacceptable and need to improve, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) says.
The MPI confirmed on Tuesday that Alliance's Pukeuri plant had its license to export to China revoked after the company sent meat to China from an unapproved plant. It is still investigating the incident and says it is too early to say what action it will take.
In a separate incident, Alliance made a labelling mistake with meat it sent to China.
MPI acting director general Scott Gallacher says while the investigation is continuing, it is clear deficient management practices at Alliance's Pukeuri plant, near Oamaru, caused the problems.
"Look, fundamentally the onus is on exporters to get things right and what we've seen here is we had two instances in the space of two very quick months where there were certain practices which occurred at this plant which did not meet the requirements of both the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Chinese authorities," Mr Gallacher said.
"From our perspective, as soon as we were aware of any problems, we've taken immediate, corrective action.
"It is just not acceptable that we have some practices occurring which results in a whole lot of questions not just from the Ministry for Primary Industries but questions from the export market."
Alliance did not return calls and has previously indicated it does not wish to comment.
'Storm in a teacup'
A source associated with Alliance, who does not want to be named, says by-products processed at the company's old Sockburn plant in Christchurch, then stored at its Pukeuri plant, made their way into a container filled with legitimate sheep meat exports destined for China.
The source said the container was then mistakenly given the green light for export by MPI.
The person told Radio New Zealand that when Chinese authorities discovered there was product in the container that had not come from Pukeuri, the trade doors slammed shut and MPI was forced to revoke the plant's certification required to supply China.
That was in July and 240 meat workers at Pukeuri have been without work since.
The source said the whole incident was a storm in a teacup as the by-products had been frozen, were stored correctly and posed no threat to human health.
