MPI Technical Paper No: 2017/09

This report was prepared by the National Institute for Health Innovation, Auckland UniServices Ltd for New Zealand Food Safety to inform monitoring of the implementation of the HSR system in New Zealand. This report includes information on HSR uptake and the nutrient status of packaged products carrying HSR labels in New Zealand.

These guidelines are to help researchers:
• Understand the fundamental principles behind the SF6 tracer technique and the concepts around its effective use.
• Enable measurements to be made with minimal experience.
• Provide a basis for decisions concerning implementation to suit individual circumstances (access to skilled personnel or laboratories, etc.).
• Report methods and results in a way that enables comparison across studies.

The methods used to determine CH4 emissions from individual animals differ in complexity, labour requirements, cost, throughput, animal management, duration of measurement, accuracy, precision and repeatability over time. Respiration chambers and the sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) tracer techniques have been accepted as the main measurement techniques to determine CH4 emissions from individual animals over several decades. However,..