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Administrative Manual

1 Introduction

1.1 Background

New Zealand has extensive wilderness areas that support a range of wild animals. Some of these wild animals are defined as pests in terms of the conservation estate, and as pests may be target species for pest control activity using vertebrate toxic agents (poisons). Other wild animals, though not the target of poisoning activity, may forage the same areas where poisons have been laid and so may have ingested poisons. Because wild animals are hunted commercially and processed into food, there needs to be a system in place to ensure contaminated product from these animals does not enter into the food chain.

In New Zealand, animals are procured either live (possums), or are hunted and shot (e.g. deer, pigs, tahr, chamois, rabbits, hares and wallabies). The resulting animal material is then processed into food at registered premises.

From Government’s perspective, the wild animal procurement system exists to provide a basis on which assurances about safety of the product can be provided to consumers in New Zealand and overseas. In the past New Zealand has had several high profile cases of illegal deer hunting that identified fundamental weaknesses in the wild animal procurement system and Government’s response indicated that the associated risks were no longer tolerable.

As a result, an enhancement of the wild animal procurement system took place following extensive consultation with industry and interested parties. It covered the supply of wild animals hunted in open country as well as animals hunted on game estates, and where appropriate, farmed animals that have gone feral. The system addresses the risk of chemical residues, but also includes hygienic techniques and good practice for delivering animal material into the regulated system. It has also been designed to improve the ability to verify the hunting activity, particularly the location and time of kill of wild or game estate animals or capture of live possums.

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) is responsible for administering the relevant law and the wild and game estate animal procurement system.

Note that the system covered by this manual does not apply to recreational hunters who hunt and consume their catch at their own risk.

1.2 System Overview

1.2.1 Certification

To hunt wild animals for supply to a primary processor, a person must be a certified supplier. To hunt animals from a game estate for supply to a primary processor, a person must be a certified game estate supplier. A person may be certified as a supplier or a game estate supplier, or both, depending on the hunting activities they undertake.

To be certified, a person must sit and pass a test designed to cover awareness of the food safety risks involved with wild and/or game estate animals and the controls that are in place to manage those risks.

1.2.2 Operations Manual

To be able to supply a primary processor with hunted animal material, the certified supplier or certified game estate supplier must have an Operations Manual that is approved by the primary processor. This forms the basis of the supplier/processor relationship and the controls within the procurement system. A certified supplier or certified game estate supplier is only able to supply animal material for processing if they have an approved Operations Manual.

1.2.3 Identification and Statements

All hunters must supply either a topographical map or GPS data to the primary processor to identify the hunting location. Ground hunters are able to use maps if hunting in areas of land specified in the Operations Manual. For hunting from helicopters or hunting on the ground in unspecified areas of land, the use of GPS is required.

When supplying carcasses or live possums, a certified supplier or certified game estate supplier statement is required and the area of land that the animals have been taken from must be covered by a Landowner/ Manager Poison Use Statement or DoC Pesticide Summary. Carcasses or live possums must be identified and this identification must link to the information contained in the statements.

The purpose of this information is to improve the ability of the processor and the NZFSA Verification Agency (NZFSA VA) to reconcile and verify the supplier, animal, date and kill or capture location data, to ensure that the wild or game estate animals have not had access to poisoned areas and so contravene the residues requirements.