Prof Roy Bickerstaffe has studied stress on sheep on the farm, being transported and handled at meat works which he measured by the pH level of the meat.
He said 95% to 96% of animals had a pH reading below the desired maximum level of 5.6.
"In general there is no problem and I would therefore say that in the majority of cases there was no issue with dogs stressing sheep and therefore on meat quality."
Prof Bickerstaffe was asked to respond to news United Kingdom supermarket giant Tesco had expressed concern about dogs running over the backs and heads of lambs at a Silver Fern Farms meat processing plant.
Silver Fern Farms (SFF) said in a statement that at no time did Tesco request the removal of dogs from its yards, but since SFF had removed dogs from all but three plants this season, management decided to "minimise the use of dogs from all sites".
The statement said this was consistent with animal welfare, food safety and quality management systems.
Despite television and radio reports to the contrary, SFF said at no stage did it or Tesco suggest dogs be removed from farms.
Prof Bickerstaffe said there were two factors that caused stress: natural susceptibility and external factors such as a foreign environment.
His research looked at the reaction to stress from sheep from a number of farms and a variety of environments and said if anything, pH levels were declining as farmers, truckies and shepherds became better skilled at handling sheep and of factors which caused stress.
He said there was one breed of sheep, which he declined to name, which was naturally susceptible to stress, but most of these adapted to more intensive handling, such as on an intensive finishing farm.
Federated Farmers meat and fibre section chairman Bruce Wills described the whole Tesco and dogs incident as "a storm in a tea cup".
Affco no longer had dogs in its yards but Alliance Group said it did.
Mr Wills said the design of the yards and the ease with which that design allowed for a flow of sheep, dictated whether dogs were needed.
Yards at his local Wairoa Plant in the northern Hawkes Bay were rebuilt about 15 years ago and stock flowed so well dogs were not needed.
South Otago farmer and dog triallist for 28 years, Howie Gardner, agreed that yard design issues dictated whether it was suitable to have dogs or not.
Mr Gardner said stress in meat works yards could be induced by unloading and washing and time spent standing to dry prior to slaughter.
He said farmers were aware of what stress could do to meat quality and avoided getting lambs worked up, but conditions and handling at the works were out of their control.
This was an example of perception becoming reality, something over which New Zealand farmers had little influence.
"While we may not like kowtowing to these requirements, what option have we got?"
He was concerned at how far the "push-back" of requirements and impositions from markets and pressure groups on farmers would go.