Watchdogs make no bones about work they do
When they hear the name, ‘Abbotstown’, they don’t think of the stop-go plans to build a headquarters for Irish sport, or of the National Aquatic and Leisure Centre, which is nearing completion in this north Dublin suburb.
Instead, the farmers think of the trauma of court proceedings and their convictions for producing contaminated farm produce. For 67 of them, their offences led to jail sentences, and, since 1996, convictions have resulted in fines totalling 8m being levied.
Here, in Abbotstown, in the State’s veterinary laboratories, staff detect the residues of materials which a handful of farmers used incorrectly on their livestock, or crops. In the Central Meat Control Laboratory, 11,500 samples are tested for unwanted residues each year.
Meat and meat products must be certified as having met EU veterinary standards, before they can be traded within the single market.
They must be free of harmful bacteria, veterinary drugs, illegal growth promoters and other contaminants, such as lead.
Veterinary inspectors around the country look for the tell-tale symptoms of incorrect animal husbandry. From abattoirs, district veterinary offices and local authorities, they send thousands of samples to Abbotstown every year.
There will be no reprieve for erring farmers when the Abbotstown labs are deserted, in 2004, leaving the site clear for work on Sports Campus Ireland. On the contrary, food watchdogs will be able to do a better job, from better equipped, new laboratories, being built at Backweston, near Celbridge, in County Kildare.
