Chicken prices on the rise
New Zealand poultry supplier Tegel will raise its prices from this month.
Raw poultry meat imports could threaten the NZ industry’s unique disease-free status, says Poultry Industry Association executive director Michael Brook.
In the last couple of years, imports of turkey have been allowed into NZ for the first time. The Americans are starting to export turkey to NZ.
Imports are a huge issue for us as an industry. NZ is a unique country in respect of the poultry diseases it has. There are three major poultry diseases, avian influenza (bird flu), Newcastle disease and Infectious bursal disease also known as Gumboro disease.
Every other country has one or more of those diseases; NZ has none of them. On that basis we have always argued strongly against importing raw product.
“With the turkey that is coming in there are a lot of conditions around it, nevertheless it is coming in,” Brooks says. The Government and MPI have talked for years about potentially importing raw chicken.
“We would be extremely concerned about the importation of raw chicken into this country – not only for the industry. But when you think about NZ, it is unique in another way: its native fauna is avian; avian diseases could have an impact on our fauna,” Brooks says.
He believes NZ’s disease-free status has offered the its industry new opportunities in the breeding and supply of day-old chicks.
The main global suppliers have had issues with their base breeding farms in the US or UK being threatened by Avian flu. One of the companies is building a third global base in Huntly to breed millions of day-old chicks to send to Asia.
Meat processor Alliance Group is asking farmer shareholders to inject more capital in order to remain a 100% co-operative.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
Telco infrastructure provider Chorus says that it believes all Kiwis – particularly those in the rural areas – need access to high-speed, reliable broadband.
World Veterinary Day falls on Saturday 27 April.