Plan to save €56m in food safety meets resistance

THE Government will bid to save €56m next year under the heading of food safety (and public health), animal health and welfare, and plant health.

However, planned savings (from €176m in 2011 to €120m in 2012) have already run into trouble, with the Veterinary Ireland trade union served one week’s notice of industrial action by its members working in meat export plants, in a reaction to proposed Department of Agriculture measures to cut the €32m annual cost of meat inspections, which could see reduced use of temporary veterinary inspectors.

* A 0.1 cent per litre milk levy for dairy products promotion through Bord Bia is also on the way in 2012, revealed by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney in his department’s 2012 estimates.