New Zealand  -  Hygiene standards  -  Food safety statement  -  Classification

New Zealand Beef: No BSE

New Zealand has never had a case of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopothy) and is free from scrapie, a similar disease found in sheep.

The New Zealand Meat Board's answers to common BSE questions.

There has been a ban on imported cattle from Britain since 1988 and New Zealand does not allow the importation of meat and bone meal for feeding to livestock and has not done so for decades.

New Zealand's livestock industry has always been pastoral based and uses little meat and bone meal. Regulations prohibiting feeding ruminant tissues to ruminants came into force in January 2000 and replaced a voluntary industry ban that had operated since 1996.

A Geographical BSE-Risk Assessment

The European Commission's Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) has carried out assessments of the Geographical BSE-Risk (GBR) of 23 countries including New Zealand. The GBR is a qualitative indicator of the likelihood of the presence of one or more cattle being infected with BSE, pre-clinically or clinically, at a given point in time. The assessments were completed and published in July 2000.

Four levels of GBR (I-IV) are defined, with New Zealand receiving the highest status of level I, being the lowest risk category and defined as "highly unlikely".

For the latest statement on New Zealand’s animal health status please visit the New Zealand ministry of Agriculture’s website: http://www.maf.govt.nz/biosecurity/pests-diseases/animals/index.htm