Iranian meat men leave N.Z.

Press, 14 May 1979, Page 13

Iranian meat men leave N.Z.

PA Auckland| ■< The Iranian meat delegation which left New Zealand on Friday after a close study of freezing works was interested in the progress made on New Zealand’s first Islamic mosque at Auckland. The delegation has asked for plans and specifications as the members would like to make a contribution from Iran for the mosque’s domesaid the president of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (Mazhar Krasniqi). During talks with the Federation of Islamic : Associations, understanding has been reached that Muslims of New Zealand will do the halal slaughtering of livestock. Iranians will come to New Zealand if they are needed to assist with this. While in New Zealand, all Iranian slaughtermen will be part of the Islamic Federa- ; tion. A small charge will be

made to cover the cost of certifications of slaughtering and overseeing. The Federation of Islamic Associations has also undertaken to assist the Government of New Zealand and the meat industry in all matters of exports of meat to Iran and other Islamic countries, says Mazhar Krasniqi. New Zealand should know within the month if it would be exporting meat to Iran, said the leader of the delegation, Hojatol Islam Mohammad Sharif Mahdavi. His party spent a week seeing whether the killing in freezing works complied with Iran’s religious beliefs. The delegation had been impressed with the high standard of hygiene and technology within the works visited, the leader said. Iran, which imports 20 per cent of its meat, bought about S33M worth of meat from New Zealand in the 1977-78 vear.