Alliance Group's Pukeuri plant has passed an audit by the Ministry for Primary Industries, but it is up to the Chinese when it will get its certificate back to resume exporting meat to China.
Pukeuri's certification was suspended in July after a container of cartons of meat breached Chinese regulations for labelling, throwing 240 people from the sheep and lambs chains out of work from August 8.
The plant was then subject to audit which Alliance Group and Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) confirms it had passed.
General manager of processing Kerry Stevens said Alliance was pleased with the advice from MPI and the '' unfortunate situation'' was nearing an end.
The company was eager to resume processing at Pukeuri as soon as possible.
''We're awaiting final confirmation from MPI that the certification has been restored. We are aware of speculation about the Pukeuri plant. However, our first priority is to ensure our employees can return to work at the earliest opportunity,'' he said.
Changes have been implemented by Alliance to its processes, including improving the checks on labelling requirements.
The audit outcome provided reassurance that the changes made were robust, Mr Stevens said.
The Pukeuri plant's certification for China was suspended after a container was shipped there containing cartons that were incorrectly labelled.
Chinese market access regulations required a label both inside and outside the carton. The affected cartons were labelled on the outside only.
The issue related to labelling rather than the meat itself, problems caused by an administrative error by Alliance Group.
An MPI spokesman has also confirmed the audit pass, which covered systems, processes and corrective actions put in place after the issue with labelling.
MPI has notified the Chinese authorities about the results of the audit.
''When China updates its import permit list, MPI will be prepared to certify meat which the plant produces for China,'' the spokesman said.
