Alliance Group and the Ministry of Primary Industries are both working hard to end an impasse over exporting meat to China from the Pukeuri plant which has put 240 workers out of their jobs.
But, at this stage, neither can indicate accurately when the Pukeuri plant will resume killing and the workers can return.
The plant stopped killing animals for export to China on August 8, the workers being sent home after the plant's certification of meat exports to China was temporarily suspended because cartons in one container-load of meat were incorrectly labelled.
Ministry for Primary Industries' acting director-general Scott Gallacher said yesterday the ministry was ''very aware'' about 240 employees at Pukeuri were affected by the suspension.
''We are working hard to have the suspension lifted as quickly as possible so they can return to work.''
Because that depended on a decision from China, he could not say how long that would be.
Chinese market access regulations required a label on both the inside and outside of cartons and the affected cartons were labelled only on the outside.
In late July, the non-compliance was identified by Chinese border officials and the ministry took action to address the issue.
The container was being returned to New Zealand and Alliance had taken action to correct the administrative error.
The temporary suspension would be lifted as soon as the ministry had confirmed with AQSIQ, the Chinese quarantine agency, that it was satisfied with the corrective actions.
The suspension only affected meat exports to China from the Pukeuri plant. Meat from the plant could still be exported to other countries, he said.
Alliance's general manager of processing, Kerry Stevens, said the company was eager to resolve the situation so the affected workers could be recalled.
