Imported pork may be superbugged
Hold the Christmas ham.
Superbugs resistant to antibiotics may be present in pork imported from Spain and Australia. However, because New Zealand does not test any products, no-one knows.
Worldwide, 700,000 people die from superbugs, which have become immune to antibiotics.
No figures exist for how many New Zealanders die from superbugs but health researchers say that resistance in a wide range of bacteria to antibiotics is ‘‘rapidly emerging as a major threat to health in New Zealand’’.
Animal welfare group World Animal Protection (WAP) has tested minced pork on supermarket shelves in Spain, Australia and Thailand and discovered the superbugs.
New Zealand imports most of its pork from Spain and Australia, much of it in either processed or frozen form but the superbugs survive both kinds of treatment.
The head of farming for WAP, Jacqueline Mills, said about 65 per cent of pork consumed in New Zealand was imported from producers where animal welfare standards could be low, and antibiotic use high.
The local pork industry has lobbied against imports for the last four years, arguing that this sector is at a disadvantage against overseas producers who have lower animal welfare and environmental standards, and pay their workers less.
In the United States, for example, Mexican farm workers are paid between US$7-8 an hour (NZ$10.30 to $11.79).
Chairman Eric Roy admitted New Zealand farmers use ‘‘some’’ antibiotics but the industry had recently agreed to stop the use of antibiotics considered most important for human health.
Mills would not speculate whether the superbugs would end up in New Zealand through pork imports.
‘‘But we can’t entirely rule it out either, and what it comes back to is that at the moment with a lot of the imported pork, especially the processed, you just don’t know where it comes from because there’s little to no information on the packet.’’
Countdown has pledged to sell New Zealand-grown free farmed fresh pork only, sourced solely from Canterbury piggery Patoa Farms.
About 55 per cent of Kiwi fresh pork comes from intensive producers, with 45 per cent freefarmed.