24 Aug 2011

Pork industry challenges MAF import standards

6:26 am on 24 August 2011

The pork industry is going back to the High Court in efforts to stop imports of uncooked pork.

New Zealand Pork is challenging revised import health standards issued by the Ministry of Agriculture in April.

Those allow limited imports of fresh uncooked pig meat from countries that have Porcine Reproductive & Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), which can cause abortions and respiratory complaints in pigs, and kill piglets.

The industry has been battling MAF over the issue for more than two years, when MAF first issued new standards that would allow raw pork imports.

It was forced to revise them after an independent review found fault with MAF's risk assessment.

The revised standards imposed further conditions, which MAF says would make the risk of the PRRS virus getting into the country highly unlikely.

But New Zealand Pork says its experts disagree. The organisation is seeking a judicial review of MAF's decision in a High Court hearing beginning in Wellington on Wednesday.

The hearing is expected to last two days.