- Print Friendly - Help

About the Verification Agency

The Verification Agency was formed in March 1998 as MAFVA. It was the part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry that was technically accountable to the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) to verify that meat, seafood and other animal products and by-products meet both the New Zealand standards and additional standards of importing countries. On July 1 2004 MAFVA became the verification body of the New Zealand Food Safety Authority.

NZFSA VA operates in a range of locations throughout New Zealand in which meat, seafood and other primary products are processed and stored. This includes slaughterhouses, meat and fish packhouses, cold storage facilities and other specialised premises processing animal products.

VA is the delivery arm of the NZFSA and provides verification and certification services to approximately 700 food processing companies (e.g. meat, seafood and game); the majority of whose products are exported worldwide. The export meat sector accounts for 80% of VA’s activities.

Industry

The Verification Agency has a primary role in the meat industry.

Meat industry products are New Zealand’s second largest export income earner, accounting for about 17% of merchandise exports. New Zealand’s main meat exports are lamb, mutton and beef. About 91% of lamb, 79% of mutton and 83% of beef produced in New Zealand in 1998–99 was exported overseas. The domestic market absorbs over 99% of pig meat and poultry produced in New Zealand.

New Zealand is a major exporter of sheep meat, accounting for approximately 53% of the world export trade. It is a smaller player in the global market for beef, accounting for about 10% of all world beef exports.

New Zealand’s major meat markets are the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Saudi Arabia and the United States for lamb; the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea and France for mutton; and the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan for beef, Germany, United States and Belgium for venison.

Organisational structure chart of the VA

• Organisational chart [PDF 94K ]

Contact details of Regional Technical Managers by geographic area - 28 January 2009

• Contact details of Regional Technical Managers by geographic area