<?php
// this is your $this->row->product_description value for demonstration purposes:
$html = <<<HTML
Some text yatta yatta
<hr id="system-readmore" />
Some more text blah blah
HTML;
list($introtext, $description) = explode('<hr id="system-readmore" />', $html, 2);
var_dump($introtext);
var_dump($description);
echo "\n---\n";
var_dump(trim($introtext)); // this is tidier, with leading trailing/whitespace characters removed
var_dump(trim($description)); // this is tidier, with leading trailing/whitespace characters removed
echo "\n---\n";
list($introtext, $description) = preg_split('~\s*<hr id="system-readmore" />\s*~', $html, 2);
var_dump($introtext); // no trim() call, no leading/trailing whitespace characters displayed
var_dump($description); // no trim() call, no leading/trailing whitespace characters displayed