Mercury pork

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 5, Issue 28, 8 December 1987, Page 4

Mercury pork

Don't eat wild pork more than once a week. That is the message from the Health Department to New Zealand wild swine scoffers after tests showed unexpectedly high mercury levels in wild pork. The tests were part of a routine follow-up to domestic pig meat tests. Mercury levels in pig liver, kidney and heart were 0.27 parts per million. The Health Department food tolerance levels are 0.03 ppm. The department was still assess^ng the necessary action to ensure domestic and export saies of wild pork complied with safety levels, said Royce Elliot, who is the acting director general of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. One possible explanation for the high levels is the high mercury levels in soil in many parts of New Zealand due to past vol-

canic activity. This mercury could pass into the food cha'in through plant roots which pigs eat. Feral goats, deer and chamois are within tolerance levels, other analysis showed. Experts of wild pork are worth about $500,000. There are concerns that overseas buyers might associate the pork mercury problem to other New Zealand game meat, says the Department.