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Controls on the movement of fruit and vegetables in the Auckland North Shore suburb of Birkdale have been lifted after no further evidence of the Oriental fruit fly was found in the area, says Mike Inglis, Biosecurity New Zealand commissioner North.

The decision to end the operation follows 7 weeks of intensive fruit fly trapping and inspections of hundreds of kilograms of fruit.

Mr Inglis thanked residents and businesses in the affected area for their support of the movement controls, keeping an eye out for fruit flies, and safely disposing of fruit in provided bins.

“Getting to this point wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the North Shore community. I can’t stress enough how vital this work has been to protect our horticulture sector.

“We are satisfied that with no further detections, the Controlled Area Notice restrictions can be lifted, and response operations closed.”

The biosecurity wheelie bins that have dotted the neighbourhood will now be removed and road signs will be dismantled.

“Our nationwide routine surveillance will continue with our system of nearly 8,000 fruit fly traps spread across the country and more than 4,600 of these in the Auckland area. These traps are set for 3 exotic fruit fly species of concern: the Queensland fruit fly, Mediterranean fruit fly, and Oriental fruit flies.”

Mr Inglis says Biosecurity New Zealand staff will be out in the community today, handing out flyers about the response closure and personally thanking residents and business owners for their contribution to the effort.

“I’d also like to acknowledge the good work of our people and our partners across the horticulture sector. By working together, and responding quickly, we have managed this situation well.”

Key figures

• More than 2,000 individual visits were made to check the 116 fruit fly traps in the Birkdale area throughout the response.
• Over 470 biosecurity bins were distributed in the community to collect produce waste for safe disposal.
• More than 954kg of fruit were collected and examined for any signs of fruit fly eggs or larvae.
• More than 70 Biosecurity New Zealand staff were involved throughout the response.

For further information and general enquiries, email info@mpi.govt.nz

For media enquiries, contact the media team on 029 894 0328.

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Update – 16 April 2025

Ms Liu was resentenced on 16 April 2025 at the Christchurch District Court.

The summary of facts before the sentencing judge was the incorrect summary and not the summary filed by the parties. The court held that a slight reduction to the sentence was required in the interests of justice.

The home detention sentence was reduced by 2 weeks to 5 and a half months and the fine reduced by $5,000 to $15,000.

A Christchurch restauranteur has been placed on 6 months’ home detention and fined $20,000 after selling food that had been recalled.

In November last year, Xinchen Liu, the owner of Samurai Bowl in Colombo Street, pleaded guilty to one charge under the Food Act for trading in food that was subject to a recall because of unsafe levels of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria being found in some frozen meals.

Ms Liu was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court yesterday (April 8 2025) following a successful prosecution by New Zealand Food Safety.

“The bacteria found in the food can cause nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhoea. The consequences can be serious for people with compromised immune systems,” says Jenny Bishop, New Zealand Food Safety acting deputy director-general.

“Food recalls are conducted to protect consumers from potential harm. People rightly expect food businesses sell food that is safe and suitable.”

A verifier observed routine testing results undertaken by the business, which found unsafe levels of the bacteria S. aureus in samples of frozen ramen meals.

MPI’s New Zealand Food Safety was notified, as required under the Food Act. The bacteria find led to a recall on 1 June 2019 of all frozen Samurai Bowl ramen meals made since Ms Liu had taken over the business.

Ms Liu confirmed the recall had gone ahead, providing evidential pictures to food safety officers and the recall was closed off in August that year by New Zealand Food Safety.

“Most people do the right thing, but Ms Liu didn’t do as she claimed and stored the meals in freezers. Some of them were defrosted and made available to staff.

“Miso soup and meat from recalled meals was also served to customers at her restaurant.

“This was deliberate and reckless behaviour and Ms Liu’s actions had potential to cause sickness and health risk for a number of customers,” Ms Bishop says.

Ms Liu received the 6 months’ home detention for both the food safety charge and another unrelated matter.

For further information and general enquiries, call MPI on 0800 00 83 33 or email info@mpi.govt.nz

For media enquiries, contact the media team on 029 894 0328.

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A Woodville farmer has been banned from owning or being in charge of farm animals and placed on 6 months community detention over a lack of food and welfare that led to 55 sheep being euthanised and others suffering.

Noel Thomas Cunningham (64) was sentenced (7 April 2025) in the Palmerston North District on 3 charges he pleaded guilty to under the Animal Welfare Act, following a successful prosecution by the Ministry for Primary Industries.

“When animal welfare inspectors visited the farm, they found infrastructure including fencing and water reticulation, particularly on the 40-hectare sheep block, showed maintenance and management had been lacking for some time. Most of the sheep fences were not stock proof and pasture was tired and indicative of poor grazing management.  An open fronted shed containing multiple sheep carcasses, along with shallow graves in an adjacent paddock indicated a history of poor care and management of the sheep,” says MPI manager animal welfare and NAIT compliance central, Gray Harrison.

“Many of the existing sheep were underweight and displaying signs of lice infestation, and some had to be euthanised to prevent further stress and suffering.

“This level of neglect is unacceptable. When we find evidence of it, we will take action.”

An MPI animal welfare inspector and 2 veterinarians inspected a total of 322 animals. They found 25 recently dead sheep and a number of dead newborn lambs. 55 sheep had to be euthanised because they were so thin and affected by parasites. 90 ewes that were also very thin were not euthanised because it would have compromised the health of their lambs, and the welfare needs of 179 other sheep were not being met.

“Mr Cunningham was an experienced farmer, yet we found no evidence of sheep management or routine husbandry being carried out. Some of the sheep that died were found near water courses, stuck in mud and at various stages of decomposition. Most farmers do the right thing for their animals. Mr Cunningham failed the basics – providing quality feed and good access to water, along with timely care,” says Gray Harrison.

Animal welfare is everyone’s responsibility and MPI strongly encourages any member of the public who is aware of animal ill-treatment or cruelty to report it to the MPI animal welfare complaints freephone 0800 00 83 33.

For further information and general enquiries, email info@mpi.govt.nz

For media enquiries, contact the media team on 029 894 0328.

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A Rangitikei farmer has been jailed for 28 months and banned from being in charge of farm animals indefinitely over the preventable deaths of lambs and sheep.

Peter James Valentine (63) was sentenced in the Taihape District Court today, on 12 charges under the Animal Welfare Act, following a successful prosecution by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). Three of these charges were wilful ill treatment of animals – the highest level under the Act. Along with the prison sentence, Mr Valentine was ordered to pay $10,710 in costs for veterinary services and mustering fees.

“All farmers or people in charge of animals are responsible for the welfare of their animals at all times. This includes providing quality feed and timely veterinarian attention. A lot of animals died from being afflicted with flystrike and other parasites. Most farmers do the right thing for their animals, but Mr Valentine failed to live up to this responsibility,” says MPI regional manager Animal Welfare and NAIT Compliance, Gray Harrison.

When animal welfare inspectors visited Mr Valentine’s Taihape property they found 24 dead lambs and 3 others that had to be euthanised. The remaining 173 lambs were affected by parasites, flystrike, emaciation and were generally too small in size. They found the pasture the animals were grazing on was unsuitable for their nutritional and welfare needs.

Peter Valentine is an experienced farmer and farms about 2,360 hectares across 6 hill country properties. He claimed to have recently drenched the lambs when MPI intervened, but a veterinary report following postmortem examination found most lambs died from significant gastrointestinal parasitism, concluding the animals could not have been drenched.

A later follow up inspection of Mr Valentine’s 5 other properties found a similar situation, with a number of sheep suffering from flystrike, 6 of which had to be euthanised. He was advised, provided written warnings, and directed under the Animal Welfare Act to crutch (dagging) all lambs, treat fly struck sheep, dip all lambs, and shear and dip all ewes, to manage a growing flystrike problem.

“We returned within 2 weeks and found very little had been done to improve the welfare of his animals, finding 18 dead sheep and 4 others that had to be euthanised because they were suffering from severe flystrike.

“These animals were subjected to unreasonable distress and pain because of a failure by Mr Valentine to properly address the welfare of his animals by ensuring effective parasite controls were in place. The death of these animals was entirely avoidable,” says Gray Harrison.

Mr Valentine was also directed to dehorn his cattle because of the threat of ingrown horns. It took 2 notices of direction before he dehorned a steer that had a horn growing into its face, causing the animal pain and distress.

A further inspection at Mr Valentine’s properties found 57 recently dead lambs caused by a lack of nutrition and parasite problems.

“Our message to those farmers who do not take appropriate action to care for their animals is that we will take action in the interest of the animals and where appropriate place the matter before the court,” says MPI regional manager Animal Welfare and NAIT Compliance, Gray Harrison.

Animal welfare is everyone’s responsibility and MPI strongly encourages any member of the public who is aware of animal ill-treatment or cruelty to report it to the MPI animal welfare complaints freephone 0800 008 333.

For further information and general enquiries, email info@mpi.govt.nz

For media enquiries, contact the media team on 029 894 0328.

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New Zealand Food Safety is supporting Foodstuffs Own Brands Limited in its recall of Pams brand Afghan Oat Baked Bars as the product may contain foreign matter (metal).

“The concern with these oat bars is that some metal from manufacturing equipment may have got into the product during the production process,” says New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle.

“If you have any Pams brand Afghan Oat Baked Bars with a Best Before of ’16/01/2026′ don’t eat it. You can return it to the place of purchase for a refund. If that’s not possible, throw it out.”

The affected products are sold at Four Square, Gilmours, New World, Pak’nSave, Social Supermarket, and Trents nationwide.

The products have been removed from store shelves and have not been exported.

For up-to-date information and photographs of the affected product, visit:

Pams brand Afghan Oat Baked Bars

New Zealand Food Safety has not received any notifications of associated injury. 

“As is our usual practice, New Zealand Food Safety will work with Foodstuffs Own Brands Limited to understand how this happened and prevent its recurrence,” says Mr Arbuckle.

The vast majority of food sold in New Zealand is safe, but sometimes problems can occur.  Help keep yourself and your family safe by subscribing to our recall alerts. Information on how to subscribe is on the New Zealand Food Safety food recall page. 

Recalled food products list

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An Auckland man who illegally killed and sold pigs and a chicken has been fined $8,000.

Peni Naivaluvou (64) was sentenced in the Papakura District Court today (28 March 2025) on 3 charges under the Animal Products Act, following a successful prosecution by New Zealand Food Safety investigators.

He was fined $4,000 for the illegal slaughter of the animals, $2,000 for selling the animal meat and $2,000 for failing to comply with a notice of direction – to stop the home kill operation.

“This home kill business was not registered as required under the Animal Products Act, meaning they were operating unlawfully and not subject to the food hygiene standards and meat inspection checks that all registered meat processors meet.

“Those who try to avoid registration and operate outside New Zealand’s stringent food safety rules are taking unacceptable risks with consumer safety and putting our international reputation at risk,” says New Zealand Food Safety deputy director general, Vincent Arbuckle.

During an investigation (2022 to 2023), a covert Food Safety investigator bought a slaughtered pig from Mr Naivaluvou. Mr Naivaluvou was then served a notice of direction under the Animal Products Act which prohibited him from killing or selling animals, but he ignored the directive and carried out additional sales to covert Food Safety investigators.

“Mr Naivaluvou told New Zealand Food Safety investigators he understood the requirements of the notice of direction but continued to operate as an illegal home kill business, slaughtering pigs, and at least one chicken.

“The majority of operators in New Zealand follow the rules because they want to make sure they are keeping their customers safe.

“When we find evidence of people deliberately flouting the law, we take action and there are consequences, as we’ve seen from the court’s response.”

For further information and general enquiries, call MPI on 0800 00 83 33 or email info@mpi.govt.nz

For media enquiries, contact the media team on 029 894 0328.

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Legal controls on the movement of fruit and vegetables on Auckland’s North Shore will remain in place for the next few weeks as part of the response to the discovery of a single male Oriental fruit fly last month, says Biosecurity New Zealand’s commissioner north, Mike Inglis. 

“We’ve had fantastic support from the Birkdale community and sector groups to date, and we’re asking for that to continue a little longer out of an abundance of caution. It is vital to our success in keeping fruit fly from establishing in New Zealand,” Mr Inglis says. 

“To date, no other Oriental fruit flies have been found in surveillance traps since the original find on 20 February 2025, which is encouraging. 

“We’ll continue to regularly check fruit fly traps, and specialist staff in our mobile field laboratory will cut up and inspect fruit and vegetables collected in the area for any signs of larvae.”

Mr Inglis says it’s anticipated the restrictions will remain in place until 10 April 2025. 

“This is so we can be confident that we are not dealing with a breeding population. This timeframe is based on scientific advice about the life cycle of the Oriental fruit fly.”

There is no change to the current movement rules that are in place. The A and B Zone areas in Birkdale will remain the same and the instructions on the disposal of produce waste remain unchanged. More detail on these zones is on our website:

Oriental fruit fly, Birkdale

“Those legal controls prohibit the movement of fruit and vegetables out of the specified controlled area around where the fruit fly was found. The restrictions are a critical precaution to protect our horticultural sector and exports,” Mr Inglis says. 

“There have been 13 previous fruit fly incursions in New Zealand which we have successfully eradicated, so we have very strong and detailed operational plans to guide our work. 

“The fruit fly poses no risk to human health, but there would be an economic cost to the horticulture industry if it were allowed to establish here.”

To report suspected finds of fruit fly, call MPI’s pest and diseases hotline on 0800 809 966.

For further information and general enquiries, email info@mpi.govt.nz

For media enquiries, contact the media team on 029 894 0328.

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A Northland commercial fisher has been fined $50,625 for under reporting and selling green mussel spat and was also ordered to pay $53,540 in reparation to Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).

Commercial fishers and Licenced Fish Receivers can only land what their quota rights or annual catch entitlement (ACE) entitles them to. Without quota rights or ACE, anything landed above their entitlement means a penalty, called deemed value, must be paid to the MPI.

Following a guilty plea, Daniel John Lovell (48) was sentenced (21/3/25) on one charge under the Fisheries Act in the Kaitaia District Court, following a successful prosecution by the MPI.

“For the 2021/22 fishing year, our inquiries found Mr Lovell sold 1,738 kg more of green lipped mussel spat than he reported on his Monthly Harvest Report. His offending continued into 2022/23 where he reported taking no spat, yet our sales inquiries found he had sold 939 kilogram of spat to marine farmers.

“Mr Lovell’s deliberate non-reporting meant he directly benefited from not paying $53,540 in deemed value. The vast majority of the fishing industry do the right thing. Mr Lovell undermined the Quota Management System and the sustainability of our shared fishing resources,” says Fisheries New Zealand regional manager Fisheries Compliance North, Andre Espinoza.

“Fishery officers discovered this illegal behaviour after finding the invoices shared between Mr Lovell and his buyers did not add up. When we find evidence of non- compliance with the rules under the Fisheries Act, we take action,” Mr Espinoza says.

MPI encourages people to report suspected illegal activity through the ministry’s 0800 4 POACHER number (0800 476 224)

For further information and general enquiries, call MPI on 0800 00 83 33 or email info@mpi.govt.nz

For media enquiries, contact the media team on 029 894 0328.

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Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) scientists are part of an international team developing a low-cost diagnostic tool that could significantly improve food crop production in developing countries.

The rapid test uses a combination of chemistries to identify plant disease and will allow growers to remove unhealthy plants in the field early in their growing season, enabling them to increase crop production of important food sources such as maize.

MPI’s Plant Health and Environment Laboratory (PHEL) scientists are working with researchers at Northwestern University (NU) in Illinois, to build the PlantdX2.0 tool, which has shown positive results in field trials in New Zealand and Kenya.

The ultimate aim of the project is to produce a test line read out system, like Covid RAT tests, that farmers can use in the field to test their crops for specific diseases.

PHEL Team Manager Virology and Phytoplasmology, Jeremy Thompson, says early prototypes of the test were trialled in New Zealand for detecting virus infection in symptomless tomato plants.

“More recently the tests have been trialled on food crops in Kenya’s Maseno area where beans, sweet potato and maize are some of the main staple crops.

“The test will be particularly useful for growers in developing countries who don’t have access to conventional testing for disease and often unknowingly propagate from diseased plants, lowering the yield of their crops.

“Much higher yields can be achieved if growers can identify and remove diseased plants from the field early,” Dr Thompson says.

The project is funded by a $1 million USD grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which supports projects to advance developing countries, and led by Julius Lucks, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at NU.

Mid-way through the 2-year trial, the goal is to produce a tool that is cheap to make and easy for farmers to use.

Dr Thompson says the test could also be used by farmers in New Zealand and other developed countries to improve crop production.

“The project is looking to make the technology available to New Zealand farmers and growers to test for specific viruses or diseases in crops.

“While the focus of this research is to develop a reliable diagnostic tool for plants, the test could also in future be applied to animal and human health.”

For further information and general enquiries, call MPI on 0800 00 83 33 or email info@mpi.govt.nz

For media enquiries, contact the media team on 029 894 0328.

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A Nelson commercial fisher who failed to continuously operate an electronic monitoring device while fishing, has been fined $34,000.

Regulations require all commercial fishers to carry and use a geospatial positioning device which transmits data to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) showing a vessel’s location and enabling Fisheries New Zealand to compare the data with the vessel’s catch reports.

Campbell David McManaway (61) was sentenced (18 March) in the Nelson District Court on 2 charges under fisheries regulations following a successful prosecution by MPI.

“All commercial fishing vessels must have their geospatial positioning device on at all times. This is important for keeping our fisheries sustainable because it means we know where people are fishing and it ensures they are complying with fishing activity reporting requirements and staying out of closed areas,” says Fisheries New Zealand district manager Otago/Timaru, Ian Henderson.

When sentencing, Judge AJS Snell considered an aggravating feature of the offending was that Mr McManaway had been warned by a fishery officer that his geospatial position reporting (GPR) was not working, adding that he took a cavalier approach.

The offending occurred when commercial fishing vessel ‘Cando’, skippered by Mr McManaway went on a fishing trip, diving for kina between Moeraki and Shag point.

“A fishery officer contacted Mr McManaway and told him his GPR aboard the ‘Cando’ had not been working during a previous trip and that he must fix this problem before he fished again.”

“Mr McManaway was given opportunities to comply with the requirement to have a working GPR aboard his boat, but failed to do so,” Mr Henderson says.

“Our advice to fishers who are having problems with their electronic monitoring devices is to get in touch with their device provider to get advice on how to get it fixed or contact us if there is a technical fault which can’t be resolved by their provider.”

“The data gathered from electronic monitoring supports good fisheries management,” says Ian Henderson.

People are encouraged to do their part in protecting our fisheries by reporting any suspicious fishing to 0800 4 POACHER (0800 47 62 24) or poacher@mpi.govt.nz

For further information and general enquiries, email info@mpi.govt.nz

For media enquiries, contact the media team on 029 894 0328.