Foot & Mouth - Travellers' Tips
It's really important that passengers travelling to NZ from the UK declare all items of food and plant and/or animal origin on their Incoming Passenger Declaration Card. Passengers should declare whether they have been on a UK farm or outside metropolitan areas in the previous 3 months, and if they are carrying any articles that may have soil contamination. You must tell the MAF Quarantine Service if you have been in the countryside, on a farm, to an abattoir, or if you've handled livestock. Quarantine officers may wish to examine any of the following items:
- items of clothing and footwear;
- sporting equipment; and/or
- camping equipment.
Quarantine officers also need to be told if you are bringing items such as any meat or dairy products, straw packaging, or equipment used with livestock (halters, brushes and so on).
Travellers returning to NZ can greatly help Quarantine staff by ensuring their clothes and footwear are free from soil or any contamination of animal origin. Use soap or detergents to ensure that surfaces are clean. A wide range of readily available disinfectants will inactivate the FMD virus. It is important to ensure organic matter is removed before disinfection.
Please make sure you pack these items at the top of your suitcase to make inspection easier and quicker. If your footwear or other items need cleaning, a Quarantine officer will take care of this before you leave the airport.
If you have been in a foot and mouth infected region and are returning to a farm in NZ, or visiting a NZ farm on your return, then as an added precaution do not go near livestock on the farm for 7 days from the time of last contact with animals or infected places. This is the length of time the foot and mouth virus could possibly survive outside of a host.
Contact for Enquiries
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: 0800 00 83 33
Fax: +64 4 894 0720
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