In his first media statement of the year, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard said events over the last few weeks had highlighted the importance of strong biosecurity to New Zealand.
Biosecurity staff at the border had been increasingly vigilant after German authorities confirmed the country’s first outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in nearly 40 years earlier this month in a herd of water buffalo on the outskirts of Berlin.
“New Zealand recognises the European Union’s protocols to manage FMD are in line with international standards and equivalent to New Zealand’s,” Andrew Hoggard said.
“German authorities have notified the World Organisation for Animal Health and have implemented appropriate measures to manage the risks, including establishing a restricted zone for animals and animal products as well as the range of usual protection measures following an FMD outbreak, including biosecurity measures, movement controls, the destruction of affected animals and products, disinfection, and surveillance.
“This is why we take biosecurity very seriously here in New Zealand.”
Mr Hoggard then said it had been a busy summer for Ministry for Primary Industries staff who had devoted their time and efforts to responding to a recent fruit fly detection in South Auckland, and to HPAI (high pathogenicity avian influenza), with decontamination continuing at the single Mainland Poultry site in Otago.
In both biosecurity responses, no further issues had been found to date.
“It’s a good reminder for all New Zealanders about how vital biosecurity is to us. Incursions of pests and diseases don’t take a break and that’s why our biosecurity system doesn’t sleep,” Mr Hoggard said.
At that stage, he said, there were no concerns regarding products imported into New Zealand from Germany. New Zealand and the European Union had agreed procedures in the event of this type of situation.
MPI had confidence that appropriate measures were being implemented and is engaging with its EU counterpart officials.
A subsequent statement, this one from the Ministry for Primary Industries, focused on the fruit fly controls in South Auckland.
Legal controls on the movement of fruit and vegetables in the South Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe would remain in place for the next few weeks as part of the response to the discovery of a single male Oriental fruit fly earlier this month, Biosecurity New Zealand’s commissioner north Mike Inglis said.
“We’ve had fantastic support from the South Auckland community and sector groups to date, and we’re asking for that to continue just a little longer out of an abundance of caution. It is vital to our success in keeping fruit fly out of New Zealand,” Mr Inglis said.
“To date, no other Oriental fruit flies have been found in surveillance traps, which is very encouraging.
“We’ll continue to regularly check fruit fly traps, and specialist staff in our mobile field laboratory will cut up and inspect fruit and vegetables collected in the area for any signs of larvae. So far more than 200kg of produce has been examined.”
Mr Inglis said the restrictions were likely to remain in place until mid-February.
“This is so we can be confident that we are not dealing with a breeding population. This timeframe is based on scientific advice about the life cycle of the Oriental fruit fly,” he said.
There is no change to the current movement rules that are in place. The A and B Zone areas in Papatoetoe will remain the same and the instructions on the disposal of produce waste remain unchanged. More detail on these zones is on our website.
The legal controls prohibit the movement of fruit and vegetables out of the specified controlled area around where the fruit fly was found.
There have been 12 previous fruit fly incursions in New Zealand which we have successfully eradicated, so we have very strong and detailed operational plans to guide our work.
Sources: Minister of Biosecurity and Ministry for Primary Industries.
