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Review of the rules for homekill and recreational catch

Background information

Homekill and recreational catch have an important place in New Zealand life, especially in rural areas. They provide an important source of meat and have cultural and social value for many communities, including Māori and Pacific peoples.

The legal rules for homekill and recreational catch are set in the Animal Products Act 1999. It enables people to process livestock or hunted animals for their own consumption and use outside of the regulated food safety system. The act prohibits the trade of homekill and recreational catch and restricts who may consume the product.

For homekill, the use of a listed service provider requires the animal owners to have cared for livestock for at least 28 days before slaughter (known as the 28-day rule).

Have your say

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is seeking feedback on the 28-day rule and the consumption of homekill and recreational catch.

In particular, we want your feedback on 3 topics.

  1. The 28-day rule for homekill: should we retain, reduce, or remove the requirement for animal owners to have cared for an animal for 28 days before slaughter by a listed service provider? (Refer to chapter 2 of the discussion document).
  2. Consumption rules: should we retain existing rules on who may consume homekill and recreational catch or remove restrictions, enabling broader access? (Refer to chapter 3). 
  3. Labelling: should we require listed service providers to label homekill and recreational catch products to provide more information to consumers? (Refer to chapter 3).

This is an opportunity for you to have a say on the rules for homekill and recreational catch.

Consultation opened on 31 August and we are accepting submissions until 5 October 2026.

What is out of scope

We are not proposing changes to enable the trade of homekill or recreational catch, amendments to the Food Act 2014 or otherwise related legislation such as the Animal Welfare Act 1999, the Biosecurity Act 1993, the National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) Act 2012, or the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) Act 1997.

Why we are consulting

The legal settings for homekill and recreational catch have not been reviewed for more than 20 years, even though the way we live and share food has changed. Changing social and cultural practices have led to more interest in making better use of these food sources and reducing barriers to the safe sharing of these products.

Through this consultation, we want to understand whether these rules are still fit for purpose or if changes are needed to make them clearer, fairer, and more practical.

Discussion document

Options for 28-day rule for homekill and recreational catch [PDF, 406 KB]

Making your submission

Email your feedback by 5pm on 5 October 2026 to 28dayruleconsultation@mpi.govt.nz

What to include

Make sure you tell us in your submission: 

  • your name and role
  • your organisation's name (if you are submitting on behalf of an organisation, and whether your submission represents the whole organisation or a section of it)
  • your contact details (such as phone number, address, or email). 

Answers to some questions you might have

Submissions are public information

Note that all, part, or a summary of your submission may be published on this website. Most often this happens when we issue a document that reviews the submissions received.

People can also ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the content of submissions available unless we have good reason for withholding it. Those reasons are detailed in sections 6 to 9 of the OIA.

If you think there are grounds to withhold specific information from publication, make this clear in your submission or contact us. Reasons may include that it discloses commercially sensitive or personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold details can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may direct us to release it.

Official Information Act 1982 – NZ Legislation

Our privacy commitment

The Privacy Act 2020 applies to all submissions. Any personal information you provide will be used only for the purpose of informing this consultation. All submissions will be read by MPI staff. MPI may also use artificial intelligence (AI) to summarise content and identify key themes. All AI outputs will be subject to human review.

To find out about the personal information we collect, our approach to privacy and security, and your rights, refer to this web page: Privacy and security

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