Pig farmers respond to new welfare standards
Pig farmers are cautiously welcoming new animal welfare standards announced by the Government last week.
The Commerce Commission has issued guidance to support compliance with the new Country of Origin for Food regulations, which come into force on 12 February.
Under the new regulations, fresh pork and cured pork for retail sale must be labelled with the country or countries where the animal was raised.
Cured pork includes bacon, ham, prosciutto and other preserved pork products containing at least 66% of whole pieces of pork, such as pickled pork.
However, imported pork processed into other products in New Zealand, including marinated pork and sausages, are not covered by the regulations because they fall outside the cured pork definition. They will only be required to be labelled with the name of the New Zealand manufacturer or retailer.
NZPork chief executive David Baines says the organisation’s research has shown that Kiwis expect and prefer the meat they buy to have been grown in New Zealand.
“Although we ultimately want labelling where imported pork is being used to be far more prominent, we welcome the introduction of these new requirements. This will shine a light on this area and give consumers more clarity about the origin of pork in at least some of the further processed products,” Baines says.
“We will be encouraging those using born and raised New Zealand pork in their products to emphasise and promote New Zealand origin far more prominently than the regulations require because that is what Kiwis want.
“Kiwis should look for the ‘100 per cent NZ’ pork labelling or NZPork’s PigCare label on pork packaging,” he explains.
“This will help provide consumers with the confidence that they are ‘buying local’, knowing they are supporting Kiwi farmers and purchasing pork raised to high levels of animal welfare.”
