Department of Agriculture to Monitor Carcass Trim in Meat Plants on a Permanent Basis

IFA National Livestock Chairman Angus Woods said Department of Agriculture technical officers will monitor carcass trim in the meat factories on behalf of farmers on a constant daily basis from later this year.

Angus Woods was speaking following a meeting with senior Department officials in the Beef Classification Unit this week. He said “IFA has been demanding increased monitoring on carcase trim and classification for some time and we welcome this move by Minister Creed and the Department.”

The IFA Livestock leader said the Department have explained that some 150 technical agricultural officers are currently being trained up in the Department to undertake this task. He said the detailed  checks on carcase trim will be undertaken daily on a number of carcasses in every meat plant to ensure that farmers are getting the correct trim and full value for their stock. The Department technical officers will be responsible to ensure every carcass receives the correct legal trim. He said the Department have outlined that the daily monitoring of carcase trim will commence in full from next November when training is complete and all the arrangements are in place.

Angus Woods said Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has also confirmed this change in a letter to the IFA. In response to the demand from the IFA for Department AOs to monitor trim the Minister said “The Veterinary Public Health Inspection staff in conjunction with the Beef Carcase Classification section are currently putting in place a training and reporting system to facilitate the monitoring of carcase presentation by Technical officers permanently based in the Meat factories.”

The National Livestock Chairman said IFA is also demanding that this positive move is extended to cover monitoring and closer controls on carcase classification, weights and the provision of an independent appeals system.