Risk Management Proposal  
 
Import Health Standard: Shelf -stable 
Petfoods Containing Animal Products  
PETFODIC.ALL  
 
 
 
 
29 November 2019   
 
 
Disclaimer  
This risk management proposal does not constitute, and should not be regarded as, legal advice. While every 
effort has been made to ensure the information in this document is accurate, the Ministry for Primary Industries 
does not accept any responsibility or li ability whatsoever for any error of fact, omission, interpretation or opinion 
that may be present, however it may have occurred.  
© Crown Copyright - Ministry for Primary Industries  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Contact for further information : 
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI)  
Agriculture and Investment Services  
Animal Imports  
PO Box 2526  
Wellington 6140  
Email: animal.imports@mpi.govt.nz  
Telephone:  04 890 0134  
 Risk Management Proposal:  Import Health Standard: Shelf -stable Petfoods Containing Animal Products  29 November 2019  
Ministry for Primary Industries   Page 1 Contents  
1 Purpose  3 
2 Background  3 
3 Objective  3 
4 Options assessment  3 
5 Considerations for specific requirements  3 
 
 Risk Management Proposal:  Import Health Standard: Shelf -stable Petfoods Containing Animal Products  29 November 2019  
Ministry for Primary Industries   Page 3 1 Purpose  
The purpose of this document is to:  
 Show how options for the management of risk o rganisms have been assessed.  
 Provide recommendations for import requirements.  
2 Background  
Petfood and petfood ingredients for pets, laboratory animals and zoo animals can be imported under the  Import 
Health Standard for Shelf -stable Petfoods Containing Animal Products  (PETFODIC.ALL  dated 3 November 
2014 ). Animal feed for production animal  species, including poultry, ostriches, emus, ca ttle (cattle, sheep, pigs, 
poultry, etc) cannot be imported under this IHS.  
An amendment to the IHS is considered necessary due to the global spread of African swine fever (ASF ). ASF is 
a viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs. No other animal species are affected . 
It is proposed that t he following cl auses in the IHS PETFODIC are amended to include official certification , giving  
assurance that the products have been processed as required  in standard : 
 Clause 7.3: Canned/retorted petfood  containing animal products  
 Clause 7.6:  Dehydrated complete diets,  pet supplements, pet biscuits and pelleted petfoods containing 
animal products  
No other categories of petfood are being consulted at this stage . This is because all IHSs applicable to petfood s 
are currently being reviewed for the purpose of drafting a generic  import health standard for animal food. The 
generic  IHS is planned for public consulta tion in the latter half of 2020.  
3 Objective  
The objective is to effectively manage risk associa ted with the import of petfood  consistent with New Zealand’s 
domestic legislation and international obligations.  
4 Options assessment  
The World Trade Organization’s Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the SPS 
Agreement), Article 3.3, requires that risk management measures which provide a level of protection greater than 
provided by international standards may be imposed only when they can be scientifically justified on the basis of 
a risk assessment.  
5 Considerations for spec ific requirements  
(1) Under Clause 7.3 of the current IHS, canned/retorted petfood can be imported  but the specifications for 
this process are insufficiently defined in the IHS. There is a wide body of literature that suggests that 
subject ing animal products  to a retort process of Fo value of 3.00 is sufficient to inactivate ASF virus.  This 
specification has been proposed for retorted petfood containing ingredients of porcine origin.  
(2) The IHS has not defined in clause 7.6 the time and temperatures required for baked petfood. For 
inactivating ASF virus, the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code  recommends pork products be subjected to 
a heat treatment for at least 30 minutes at a minimum temperature of 70°C.  
(3) To provide assurance, official certification has been pro posed in the updated IHS for retorted and baked 
petfood containing ingredients of porcine origin.  Risk Management Proposal:  Import Health Standard: Shelf -stable Petfoods Containing Animal Products  29 November 2019  
Ministry for Primary Industries   Page 4 (4) No additional measures are proposed for Clause s 7.1/7.2 (canned/retorted petfoods) and  7.4  
(baked/extruded petfoods from Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Sw itzerland, and the United States of 
America ), as these  countries are free from ASF.