Quick Dips

Safe Salmon

Following an extended scientific evaluation and risk analysis, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has decided to permit the importation from Australia of gutted salmon with its head and gills intact.

MAF's Biosecutiry Authority has been involved in a number of reviews regarding salmon imports, dating back to 1994. The main point has been to examine potential health risks to fish and other aquatic animals from such products being allowed into New Zealand.

Australian salmonids have a number of diseases not present in the local population, including atypical strains of Aeromonas salmonicida, lymphosarcomas in Tasmanian Atlantic salmon, streptococcosis, and epizootic haematopoetic necrosis virus (EHNV). The risk analysis assessed each of these diseases, and concluded for the first three that the risk of introduction posed by head and gill intact salmonids for human consumption was low or negligible. However, specific measures were recommended to protect against the introduction of EHNV.

While MAF will be permitting the importation of head and gills intact salmon from Australia, it has ruled against the commercial importation of trout.

New Zealand's international agreements oblige MAF to base decisions affecting imports on a scientific basis. Continued refusal to allow imports from Australia would have been difficult to defend on technical grounds, especially as the international standard for safe trade in table fish, the International Aquatic Animal Health Code, considers that evisceration ensures that fish may be traded safely.