Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy says officials from the Ministry have visited and inspected a number of palm kernel manufacturing and storage facilities in Malaysia and Indonesia, and generally found good systems in place.
Mr Guy said palm kernel expeller (PKE) is an important source of supplementary feed for the dairy industry.
But he instructed officials to visit offshore facilities to review the safeguards in place, following concerns raised by Federated Farmers about lax biosecurity standards at some plants.
Their reports conclude that any biosecurity risk remains low, as every shipment is heat treated to kill any traces of foot and mouth disease, and is also fumigated and inspected.
But Mr Guy said they had identified two areas for further improvement.
A small number of facilities need to improve their systems to keep birds and rodents out.
And MPI and Malaysian authorities will strengthen the legal requirements to provide additional assurance that PKE from unapproved facilities cannot be exported to New Zealand.
Mr Guy said an extra levy is also being considered to cover an increased level of inspections in countries supplying PKE.
