Meat factory checks halve in 3 years
Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney confirmed that his department carried out 10,144 inspections of meat plants in 2009. That figure had dropped to 7,189 in 2011 and, by Sept 2012, there had only been 4,565 inspections.
The drop means that, between 2009 and 2012, the number of compliance notices issued to factories has fallen from 151 to 32.
Fianna Fáil agriculture spokesman Éamon Ó Cuív questioned whether the Government is “scrimping” on the monitoring of Irish food.
“Are they putting our food industry at huge risk by this reduction in inspections which also seems to be leading to an absolutely catastrophic reduction in compliance notifications?” asked Mr Ó Cuív.
“I cannot believe that suddenly the factories have got hugely compliant compared to what they were. It is important that we would put in the resources to protecting our reputation as a premier food producer.
“In an industry where confidence is everything, we should make sure we are not scrimping on inspections of our meat factories.”
Agriculture is one of three departments being primarily targeted for staff reductions through an accelerated voluntary redundancy programme under Croke Park II.
However, Mr Ó Cuív said: “It is important to keep food processing staff in place. There are significant savings which can be made in the administration department of the Department of Agriculture by simplifying various agricultural schemes and by using technology.
“We have to differentiate between a proactive inspection regime which, in the greater scheme of things, would not be very expensive, and an over-weening bureaucracy in terms of payment systems and so on.”
Mr Coveney said his department maintains a permanent presence in approved slaughter plants and that regular visits are made to meat plants. “The frequency of these visits is determined by an annual risk assessment which is conducted for each plant,” said Mr Coveney.
At the time of going to press, his department could not confirm why there had been such a sizeable drop in inspections since 2009.
Meanwhile, there was growing pressure on the Government last night to reveal the results of tests into the possible source of the horsemeat contamination, after the latest results were sent for further analysis at another lab.
Mr Coveney said in a statement that 24 preliminary results received late on Thursday from a laboratory in Germany have been sent to an Irish laboratory for confirmatory quantitative analysis.
He said he was “not prepared to draw any conclusion until I’m fully satisfied that such conclusions are supported by facts”.
Mr Ó Cuív said: “The whole thing is drip-feed. If he [Mr Coveney] had said at the start it is going to take three weeks, that is fine. But we are getting piecemeal answers.
“I am getting very frustrated with the minister on a week-by-week basis failing to come in and give us answers to the kind of questions the public are asking every day.
“We need a much better process than we have at the moment.”
British supermarket Waitrose has become the latest to withdraw frozen burgers from its shelves because of the horsemeat controversy.
