Work still remains

Feb 28 2008 by Tom Patterson, The Journal

A SUBSTANTIAL amount of work remains to be done if meat inspection services and costs are to be properly modernised, claims the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers.

SAMW president Allan Jess said: “While we appreciate that some meat inspection processes and economies have been addressed in recent months by the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS), we believe there is still considerable scope for the further streamlining of how the service operates and how it is costed.”

Mr Jess was commenting on the Food Standards Agency’s recent board meeting review of progress towards the creation of a Transformed MHS.

He said: “From our perspective as plant operators we believe that many of today’s MHS activities, particularly those introduced when BSE was at its height in the 1990s, have little or no relevance to food safety.

“There are areas of current inspection, in fact, which we’re convinced could be carried out equally effectively by the Food Business Operative but at much less cost.”