Foot and mouth disease could reach New Zealand in palm kernel but steps are finally being taken to close down the pathway, says Federated Farmers.

Biosecurity spokesman John Hartnell says he understands Biosecurity NZ is working with its Australian counterpart to tackle what it now admits is a gap in the current import health standard.

‘There is a big hole in the process and that’s the time the product sits on the ground between when it leaves the crusher and when it is loaded on the boat.

‘Barry O’Neil [deputy director of Biosecurity NZ] now accepts that there is a hole there and says they are working with Australian biosecurity to strengthen the systems in that area.’

The current import health standard relies on heating during oil extraction, rendering the meal sterile, but meal is often stored before shipment, sometimes on bare earth.

That provides a window for insect infestation and, worse still, contamination with potential foot and mouth disease bearing material such as soil or animal remains, says Hartnell.

Federated Farmers has received reports of soil contamination in PKE delivered to farms in New Zealand.

Whether that originated here or overseas in a country such as Malaysia where FMD is endemic isn’t known.

Parliamentary questions put by the Green Party reveal dozens of PKE shipments have had to be fumigated on arrival in New Zealand due to insect infestation.

However, far from all containers are inspected and only a few samples are taken from bulk cargoes of thousands of tonnes.

That suggests many insects may be getting through.

Fumigation is also no defence against foot and mouth, points out Greens MP Kevin Hague.

‘The Minister [David Carter] has accused me of being alarmist. Actually that’s a fair label: I am alarmed, and I think everyone associated with livestock in this country should be alarmed too,’ he told Rural News.

‘Actually the comments made by the Minister about fumigation make me even more alarmed. Fumigation – and even that looks pretty haphazard – is about addressing insect infestations, and will be entirely ineffective against FMD.’

Hague says he accepts the risk of foot and mouth being imported in soil is small, but nonetheless the risk is there.

While the Greens’ position is that PKE imports should be banned, if that can’t happen ‘then at least let’s have a clear and universally applied and monitored heat treatment process of the material and not just rely on the heat from the extraction process’, Hague says.

‘I think it is pathetic that Government is relying on that. By importing PKE we are taking an unnecessary biosecurity risk and kneecapping our grain farming industry in the process.’

Hartnell stresses the federation’s concern is biosecurity only.

‘It has only ever been a biosecurity issue. It is not about PKE taking the position of grain.’

The organisation recently put out a strongly worded advisory notice to all members reminding them that they need to be the ‘eyes and ears’ for Biosecurity NZ for anything that gets past the border.

Any foreign material – wood, soil, seeds, plants, insects, animals – should be reported immediately to MAF Biosecurity on 0800 809966 and the local Federated Farmers president.