New Zealand Pork is appealing a High Court judgement which did not support its challenge of new import health standards.
The pork industry challenged the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's (now Ministry for Primary Industries) process for deciding new standards, which would permit imports of untreated pig meat from countries with the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) virus.
In a statement, NZ Pork chairman Ian Carter said the organisation had been left with no option because the MPI's response to the judgement did not alleviate the industry's concerns, which was to effectively manage the risk of PRRS infecting New Zealand's pigs.
PRRS is a contagious disease that can cause stillborn fetuses, abortion or respiratory sickness.
Earlier this month, MPI director-general Wayne McNee said the decision endorsed the ministry's role as an independent, objective science and evidence-based regulator.
The decision to issue the new standards was made after years of assessing all available science and a comprehensive risk assessment process, which showed the risks of PRRS entering New Zealand could be effectively managed through the measures outlined in the standards.
The industry could not allow its animals and its livelihoods to be at the mercy of imported infectious pig meat without evidence from MPI that it could manage the risk, Mr Carter said.
If "lax" import standards allowed the virus into New Zealand, it could spread with "alarming speed" through farmed and wild pig populations and the financial impact on pig farmers and associated businesses could be massive, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said.