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The poultry industry says it is working to make poultry and eggs able to be traced back to their origin,
but says it is not an easy job given the high number of eggs and birds that are produced and processed.
Most poultry meat produced in New Zealand is eaten here, so the poultry industry is not being driven by
export markets to the same extent as as other food industries, such as lamb.
Poultry meat is predominantly chicken but includes turkey, duck, pheasant, guinea fowl, quail and goose
meat.
Poultry Industry Association of New Zealand (PIANZ) spokeswoman Natalie Gerber says although there
isn't the overseas pressure to be able to trace poultry meat and eggs, the safety of consumers in New
Zealand is just as important as that of overseas customers.
Tracking and traceability have become hot topics for all livestock businesses around the world, as both
consumer concerns about food safety and the improved ability of food regulators to respond to disease
outbreaks have grown.
Beef, lamb and deer producers and processing industries have been grappling with practical ways to
implement traceability from a New Zealand farm to overseas plate.
"The practicalities of tracing mammalian livestock and large birds such as emus and ostriches are well
understood," Ms Gerber says.
"However the practical implementation of these concepts in the poultry industry is somewhat more
difficult," she says.
For example it would not be possible to individually number and record every broiler chicken grown on
any given farm, she says.
"But the uniqueness of the poultry industry does make it possible to treat whole groups of birds, and in
some cases farms, as a single unit," Ms Gerber says.
That's because "all broiler chickens in any given shed and on any given farm at the same time will
receive identical treatment in terms of feed, water and any medication," she says.
Like many other countries, the New Zealand poultry industry is highly integrated, with poultry
processors owning the birds from day old until slaughter in most cases, Ms Gerber says.
Production cycles in the poultry meat industry are considerably shorter than those in other meat
industries.
It takes an average of 37 days to produce a 2 kilogram broiler chicken and 15 weeks to produce a 10
kilogram turkey.
PIANZ and the Egg Producers Federation (EPF), under contract to Biosecurity New Zealand, are
currently working on a biosecurity risk profile for the poultry industry.
The risk profile identifies the risks and potential spread of a disease within the sector or industry and
predicts the trace backs and trace forwards that would be required.
It is expected to be completed in June.
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com |
