Traceability & deforestation on New Zealand leather

The NZ Farm Assurance Programme covers the audit and certification of sheep, beef and deer farms. This certification assists processors/exporters to maximize product eligibility for different commercial customers and supply programs as well as helping to meet domestic regulatory compliance requirements.

Consumers are becoming increasingly interested in the provenance and traceability of the food they buy and having confidence that the way it is produced meets their expectations. There is an increased call for products which have been ethically produced as well as being safe to eat. This demand from consumers is answered by buyers who now demand that their suppliers meet specific standards when it comes to production.

The NZ Farm Assurance Programme is being initiated to assure customers that farms in New Zealand all have a baseline quality standard.

Documentation: https://www.nzfap.com/

An ASD is a legal and essential document that provides animal traceability and must accompany all livestock movements in New Zealand. The ASD is vital (see also ASD outlines):

• To transfer key animal welfare information about the stock

• For guiding ante-mortem and post-mortem examination at the processing premises

• Integral for determining export eligibility

• Underpins the Government’s ability to sign export certification

A correctly completed ASD form must accompany all livestock being sent for slaughter.

Issued with an electronic “Eligibility Document” (ED) that facilitates the movement of skins from the supplier’s slaughterhouse to the fellmongery. Meat processors issue ED’s to the skin processor under the MPI approved premises numbers (“Export Approved Premises”).

Exported under MPI certification named a “Certificate for Hides and Skins exported to India” if the destination is India or “Certificate for Hides and Skins exported from New Zealand” if the destination is another country. This certificate is issued in conjunction with the exhaustion of ED’s as per above.

Derived from animals that are of 100% New Zealand origin as evidenced by the Certificate of Origin, issued by the Government Chamber of Commerce New Zealand.

The Certificate of Origin forms a part of the export documentation that is presented to import customs at the destination port in order to facilitate the clearance of the goods into the destination country.

NAIT Ltd was established through a partnership between the beef, deer and dairy industries and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). NAIT Ltd is a subsidiary of OSPRI New Zealand Ltd. Currently it is working on all bovine and deer.

The purpose of the National Animal Identification and Tracing Act 2012 is to establish an animal identification and tracking system that:

• provides for the rapid and accurate tracing of individual animals from birth to death

• provides information on the current location and movement history of individual animals

• improves biosecurity management

• manages risks to human health arising from residues in food, food-borne diseases, and diseases that are transmissible between animals and humans

There are four main drivers for the NAIT system:

Biosecurity
An effective livestock traceability system enables New Zealand to respond to a biosecurity incursion or exotic disease event by tracing suspect or infected livestock.

Food safety
New Zealand provides assurance to local and overseas markets about food safety standards and product integrity through traceability of livestock and the associated property of origin.

Market assurance and access
New Zealand provides assurance to both local and overseas markets and customers of the attributes associated with livestock product integrity, for which traceability is a clear requirement.

Animal health surveillance
NAIT provides the ability to integrate animal health information and enable the monitoring, surveillance and management of both endemic and exotic diseases.