Call for beef grading staff to stay

ICSA national beef chairman Joe Kilmartin yesterday called on Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh to suspend plans to withdraw Government grading staff from beef export plants from January 1.

He said it now appears obvious that replacement mechanical grading won’t be available to meat processors by next January as more testing is due to take place in November.

Minister Walsh must put the most cost-effective and accurate mechanical grading systems in place at all export plants in advance of withdrawing the 47 grading personnel, he said.