MPI’s mail compliance monitoring survey for 2015/16 showed 99.93 percent of arriving international letters, parcels and other mail items were clear of biosecurity risk.

"The result is similar to last year’s survey, showing MPI’s controls continue to work well for New Zealand," says Chris Denny, MPI Team Manager, Freight and Mail.

The survey involved mail inspections that took place after the items had passed through biosecurity controls such as detector dog and x-ray screening at the International Mail Centre in Auckland.

MPI inspected 4367 mail items for the survey. More than 1.6 million items were processed at the mail centre during the survey period between 16 and 29 May. Only five non-compliant risk goods were detected during the survey. They included undeclared seeds, a partly dried leaf with fungal growth and meat in homemade cans.

"We strive for 100 percent compliance, so there is still room for improvement. That is the reason we are constantly refining our processes to find better ways of managing biosecurity threats," Denny says.