WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/NZL/363 
29 January 2007 
 (07-0379) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  NEW ZEALAND
 
If applicable, name of local government involved:   
2. Agency responsible:  Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):   Turkey meat and turkey meat products.  
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected , to the extent relevant or practicable:  
United Kingdom. 
5. Title, language and number of p ages of the notified document:  Import health standard 
for the importation of Turkey Meat and Turkey Meat Products into New Zealand from the United Kingdom (Available in English;  11 pages). 
6. Description of content:   
1. The products must originate from Bernard Matthews Ltd establishments which are free 
from infectious bursal disease virus type 1. 
2. The products must originate from an establis hment with flock freedom from turkey viral 
hepatitis on the basis of liver condemnation rates less than 30%. 
3. The products: 
EITHER 3.1 must have originated from bi rds hatched and kept in an establishment 
with all the following measures: 
(i) there is no vaccination of broilers for avian influenza virus, avian 
paramyxovirus-1, Salmonella  pullorum  or S. gallinarum ; 
(ii) the establishment is in a zone free from both notifiable avian 
influenza and Newcastle disease acco rding to definitions given in 
the current Terrestrial Code; 
(iii) the establishment has flock freedom from infection with avian 
paramyxovirus-1 based on routine screening using the intra-
cerebral pathogenicity index (ICPI) test where negative means  
ICPI less than 0.0; 
(iv) the establishment has routine screening for avian 
paramyxoviruses other than paramyxovirus-1 using the haemagglutination test and has remained free of evidence of these 
viruses for the 21 days prior to slaughter of the birds from which 
the turkey meat or turkey meat products have been derived; G/SPS/N/NZL/363 
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   (v) the establishment has flock freedom from Salmonella arizonae , 
S. gallinarum  and S. pullorum  based on routine screening of 
parent and broiler flocks using e ither the rapid slide agglutination  
or serum agglutination test. 
OR 3.2 have been cooked so that they  reach a minimum core temperature of 
79 degrees Celsius and then held at a core temperature of 70 degrees 
Celsius for at least 30 minutes or 80 degrees Celsius for at least 5 minutes.
 
4. The products must be derived from broiler birds that passed veterinary ante- mortem 
and post-mortem inspection at the time of slaughter. 
5. The establishments and product must fully co mply with European Community law and 
the product is eligible for intra-community trade without restriction. 
6. The products must be fit for human consum ption and Hazard Analysis Critical Control 
Points (HACCP) were implemented at all points of slaughter and processing. 
7. The products must be processed before turkey  meat or turkey meat products of lower 
health status to avoid cross-contamination. 
8. The products must be placed in a container with an official seal. 
7. Objective and rationale: [   ] food safety,  [ X ] animal health,  [   ] plant protection, 
[ X ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [ X ] protect territory from other damage from pests   
8. International standard, guideline or recommendation: 
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission,  [ X ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [   ] International Plant Protection Convention,  [   ] None 
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:   
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  This import health 
standard is based on the MAF import risk analysis: chicken meat and chicken meat 
products; Bernard Matthews Foods Ltd turkey meat preparations from the United Kingdom  
completed in March 1999, and the review of subm issions of this risk analysis completed in 
September 1999.  The risk analysis and associated review of submissions are available on the MAF Biosecurity New Zealand website at http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/files/pests- diseases/animals/risk/chicken-meat-ra.pdf  and 
http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/files/pests- diseases/animals/risk/chicken-meat-subs.pdf . 
 The draft import health standard differs fro m the measures proposed in the 1999 import risk 
analysis in five regards: 
1) It is proposed that there is on-going certifi cation of freedom from Infectious Bursal 
Disease virus – 1 in Bernard Matthews Ltd flocks. 
2) The measures for avian influenza have been expanded from applying to highly 
pathogenic avian influenza to notifiable avian influenza to recognise changes in the World 
Animal Health Terrestrial Code that have been made since 1999.  G/SPS/N/NZL/363 
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   3) Directives covering human health and salmone llosis have been recently adopted by the 
European Community Council and manage the risk of Salmonella enteritidis PT4 and 
S. typhimurium DT104.  Certification that establishm ents and product fully comply with 
European Community law and the product is eligible for intra-community trade without 
restriction to mitigate the risk to human hea lth from salmonellosis has been agreed with the 
New Zealand Food Safety Authority. 
4) The draft import health standard proposes the tests that would be required to 
demonstrate flock freedom. 
5) Cooking times are combined as an option to  mitigate the risks fro m all heat-sensitive 
pathogens. 
10. Proposed date of adoption:  April 2007. 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  April 2007.  
12. Final date for comments:  February 2007. 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [   ] National notification 
authority, [   ] National enquiry point,  or address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body:   
13. Texts available from:  [ X ] National notifi cation authority, [   ] National enquiry 
point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:  Ms Sally Griffin, Coordinator, SPS New Zeala nd, PO Box 2526, Wellington, New Zealand.  
Tel:  +64 4 819 0431;  Fax:  +64 4 819 0731;  E-mail:  sps@maf.govt.nz   
Website:  www.maf.govt.nz/biosecurity/sps/tran sparency/notifications/index.htm