A mother pig in a farrowing crate. Photo: Supplied / SAFE
Animal welfare advocates are calling for imported animal products to meet New Zealand's welfare standards.
Welfare group Animal Policy International has launched a new parliamentary petition asking for stricter animal welfare standards for products like pork, imported from countries such as Canada, United States and some European countries.
New Zealand farmers must adhere to specific animal welfare rules and standards - including bans on sow stalls for pigs and battery cages for hens - but imports do not have to comply.
Animal Policy International's animal law expert associate professor Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere of the University of Auckland said the welfare gap between New Zealand farmers and those abroad must be closed.
He said there was capital gain in the endeavour of bringing animal products to New Zealand from countries with significantly lower animal welfare standards for only a few.
"I think that it's important to think long term and who is actually making money here," Ferrere said.
"There's money to be made, but when it's being made by a very small proportion of people, you've got to wonder whether or not that's in the best interests of the rural sector and New Zealand as a whole."
Ferrere said while consumers often made choices in the supermarket based on price, many would not even check if the product was made in New Zealand or imported.
"Consumers should be able to pick up some bacon at the supermarket and trust that the pigs that have been used to create that bacon have had a relatively humane life.
"They probably think, and with good justification, that the imports comply with New Zealand's requirements.
"When it comes to animal welfare standards, we have this massive blind spot. We say, 'yeah it's fine that you don't have to comply with the same standards we impose on our own farmers' and we just don't think it's fair."
The group published a report entitled Closing the Welfare Gap in March, which laid out examples where jurisdictions deviated on animal welfare standards.
It found that around two-thirds of pork consumed in New Zealand was imported - largely from countries that allowed the use of sow stalls, like Canada and some European countries, where mother pigs were confined to cages that restricted their movement.
It said another example was that all wool imports came from Australia, where mulesing or removing skin from a live sheep without pain relief was widely used, but banned in New Zealand in 2019.
The report cited a Horizon Research poll from June 2023 that found 83 percent of New Zealanders agreed that imported products should respect the same animal welfare standards as those applied in New Zealand.
Ferrere said the imports, alongside the government's signals to reverse the ban on live animal exports by seas, would hurt New Zealand's reputation with international trading partners.
Labour MP Rachel Boyack will host an event to launch the parliamentary petition at parliament in Wellington on Wednesday evening.