What's really in our ham?

I have no idea to why? New Zealand has to import overseas meat into our country where our country got lands and lands of our own breeds of fresh beef that will always be breedings just like our human breeds..

New Zealand should export our fresh beef through out the world, our beef is the most pure freshes tenderness and its qaulities and quantities of our pure healthy country living compared to the other countries in the world..

Our country can breeds healthy foods from the land and from the sea and billions of dollars can be made to help our people through life and for our future children to follow..

They even import people given them kiwi passport to work in our country where our own students and the unemployments are seeking employments..
Look what tails behind the importers.. Corruptions,suicidals,rappist,kidnapping,murders,gamblings, guns,drugs,children were taken from school without the parents awareness up to two weeks on end our death rates is multiple..Our people used to die of and old age or an illness or less to no crimes or suicidal..
We want our pure and healthy country back you morons..

How much longer do we have to tolerate the incompetence/corruption of Government Departments, especially in the area of health. Food is definitely a health issue and we have the right to know where our food comes from and what's in it!! We have a sickness epidemic in New Zealand and our various Government Departments continue to ignore the main cause which is what people are putting in their bodies. It's not just where our food comes from but the contents. Why do our Government Departments continue to allow "Lies" from the marketing departments of major food manufacturers and suppliers. One example is white bread continually being advertised as "Natural", since when was white flour Natural? and comments like "Natures own", it's just rubbish and Government departments and their officials continue to allow this nonsense. At school we used to make glue out of white flour and water!!Quite frankly just don't eat pork, you don't need it. Shop at your local Farmers Market and talk to the people that grow the food, don't buy meat if it doesn't say where it comes from and what additives it contains. You can't trust the advice of the New Zealand Health Authority or any other Government Department for that matter. Trust yourselves!!

I am sure hellers are importing pork from Canada. I overhead one of their reps.
cheers!

Kel- here's a thought- don't eat any pork at all. You don't need it.

Worried about where your meat came from? Try a small local butcher who bought the meat himself - rather than a large company or supermarket who has a "buyer" who is not necessarily a butcher. NZ ham & pork products are available right now at Maxi Meat Mart, Browns Bay. How do I know? My husband has been working himself into a state of exhaustion, of late, boning pork and for hams. If you want an NZ ham get in now before they are all gone.

Public opinion seems to be saying Kiwis are no longer happy to accept any old meat and price is not the only measure consumers are looking at. Many people(in the financial position to consider the proposition)state they would prefer to buy free range meat and poultry. N.Z. made seems to be a priority too going by the Campbell Live article "Whats in our Ham". I wonder how many Kiwis would back a national stance against "non-humane" farming practice? Is New Zealand ready, and brave enough, to be the first country in the world to actually BAN the sale of non free-range meats? How would this affect our agri-based economy? certainly the minority of local meat producers who use intensive farming methods would be devestatingly impacted affecting local industry but imports of meat would be all but stopped boosting local farmers. Exports of N.Z. meat products would be in a unique position to command premium prices. Of course Kiwi consumers would be hit too but only until the market readjusted to free-range no longer being a niche market product. Most Kiwi farms would already meet free-range standards, certainly for beef and lamb. New Zealand is well positioned to lead the world here. If we are brave enough to be Nuke free we can be brave enough to be Sow-crate free and 100% Free-range. How about a national poll ??? Would YOU support a ban on the sale of meat products sourced from farms using in-humane farming practices ???

WAYNE, If they had posted all of my comment, Then u would relise that buying a Freerange whole ham will cost about $180.00 and I don't think that most people who earn min wage like over half of NZ, Can surport mike king with their wallets like he wants !!!!

I will never be buying ham again after the Mike King programme, so no xmas ham for me this year!

I work in meat export/import and import pork from Canada, the USA and Australia (and also beef and lamb from Australia). I think that most NZers agree that Country of origin labelling is important. I certainly want to know where my meat, fruit and veg comes from and make my choice accordingly. Like a lot of people, I dislike seeing 'produced in NZ using local and imported products'. Any one with knowledge of the global meat industry will tell you that it is very well regulated and movement of product from country to country is controlled much like the movement of people. Each consignment requires a 'passport' that allows it to be traced back to the slaughter plant and from there back to the farms. These plants are checked not only by their own authorities but are also audited by regulators from other countries. Plants that that are not up to standard will be de listed for export to that country. Putting aside the animal welfare issues, you will find that the quality of meat is very comparable between all these countries. With regards freezing, it is something we take for granted but is much maligned by the general public. Unlike your domestic freezer, commercial freezers will keep vac packed meat 'fresh' for far longer than 12 months. Changes in taste and texture, cooking and appearance will be imperceptible even after 3 years. With regards NZ hams, you will find that a good percentage of these will have been FZN too. There is simply no other way to provide enough over such a short period but as I have said, you will not tell the difference. Should we import meat? Most of us agree that we should produce and EXPORT more from this country to increase our standard of living. It is a global market and we are part of it. John, an ill researched piece and kinda sloppy work.

Labelling is a problem in NZ, and surprisingly so given the general stance of the current government and one its coalition partners. Any first course in economics tells the students that competitive markets need free flow of information to work properly. If regulations are made that do not require the source of a product to be properly identified then information is being denied to the market that would allow it to decide if there is a place for this particular product. In this case there is also an ethical component. I think honesty in labelling is unavoidable for our markets to function properly.