New Zealand has banned some lower welfare practices in farming, such as sow stalls for pigs. Yet products made using those very practices can still be imported and sold here. A simple, targeted policy would close that gap, asking imported food to meet the same welfare standards New Zealand already applies at home.

In late April 2026, Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies approved a bill to prohibit the production and sale of foie gras. Foie gras is made by force-feeding ducks and geese through a tube inserted into the throat, a process that enlarges the liver to several times its natural size.

In June, the New Zealand Parliament's Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee reported back on two petitions concerning the welfare standards of imported animal products: a petition from Associate Professor Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere, asking that imports meet or exceed New Zealand's animal welfare standards; and another petition seeking a ban on the import and sale of foie gras.

New Curia polling shows farmer views match years of public opinion, six months out from election