Media Release
23 May 2006
No ban on New Zealand meat
Media reports last week, from an overseas news agency, that the Ukraine had banned imports of New Zealand meat are
incorrect, say the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA).
"We are not aware of any exports of New Zealand meat to the Ukraine for some years. We believe that the report was
actually about non-New Zealand meat that had been fraudulently passed off as being New Zealand product," says Tony
Zohrab, NZFSA's Director of Market Access.
"It would be expected that Ukraine officials would refuse entry of any such shipment that they had detected.
"There have been cases of this type of deception before in other countries, and NZFSA assists overseas authorities to
confirm that suspicious shipments are not of New Zealand origin. We operate world-leading tracking and certification
systems in New Zealand, and our locally-developed electronic certification system ensures that the importing nations who
use it can easily identify and verify genuine New Zealand consignments. Traditional paper-based systems are not as
secure and unscrupulous traders in other countries have on occasion been able to pass off consignments as being from New
Zealand."
NZFSA is working internationally to encourage the uptake of electronic certification for exports of our product and
reduce this risk as well as provide efficiency gains to New Zealand producers.
ENDS