Farming Today

07/10/24 Charges for abattoir inspections, water management

Plans to get abattoirs to take on more of the cost of vets and meat inspectors are "excessive and dangerous" according to the meat industry. The Association of Independent Meat Suppliers, (AIMS) which represents both big and small slaughterhouses, says the Food Standards Agency's proposal to remove or reduce the discount offered to smaller abattoirs risks "single handedly destroying the foundations of the British meat industry".' The FSA, which covers England, Northern Ireland and Wales, has issued a "call for evidence" on the proposed changes, saying that the costs of providing inspectors and official vets have increased and that needs to be passed onto businesses.

All week we're going to look at water management. After a year that has seen storms and vast amounts of flooding, how we respond to weather events in future as the climate changes is a hot topic. We speak to one of the scientists leading a new, government funded research project. Using cutting edge technology the new Flood and Drought Research Infrastructure will measure flooding and droughts to create models that will allow us to predict them, and to find out how we might be able to reduce their impact in the future.

Presenter = Charlotte Smith Producer = Rebecca Rooney

Broadcast on:: 07 Oct 2024
Audio Format:: other

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So, give it a try at midmobile.com/switch. $45 up from payment equivalent to $15 per month, new customers on first three month plan only, taxes and fees extra, speeds lower above 40 gigabytes of detail. BBC sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello and welcome to the Farming Today podcast with me, Charlotte Smith. In today's episode, the row over increased charges for Vets in Abattoirs. I would say that at least half the slaughterhouses in the UK would close. It would wipe out the small and medium sized slaughterhouses. We do recognise that smaller businesses may have more difficulty in meeting some of these costs, and that's exactly why we've launched this consultation. More from the Food Standards Agency and the Meat Industry later. But let's start with the topic which has dominated this programme over recent months, rain, after a year that's seen storms and flooding, how we respond to weather events in the future as the climate changes is a hot topic. So, all this week, we're going to look at water management. A new government funded research project is studying flooding and droughts in an attempt to create models which will make these events more predictable and help reduce their impact. The UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology is leading the new flood and drought research infrastructure. It'll bring together scientists, landowners and communities to explore how our rivers respond to extreme weather events. I spoke to Gareth old, the project's science lead. The floods and droughts research infrastructure is a large investment in digitally supported monitoring of the water environment. We'll measure all parts of the water cycle in three river basins throughout the UK. So we'll be measuring things like the rainfall, the evaporation, the groundwater, the surface water, and bring all that together. We'll be adopting new technologies like cameras and drones which will be fitted with sensors to monitor things like soil moisture and river flows. And then we'll be even investigating how observations from space can be used to do this as well from satellite. There will be people listening to this who are experiencing flooding who will think, "Well, hang on, don't we know all that already?" We realise that members of the farming communities in particular really do understand very well how these catchments are responding and what the issues are. But what's really important to recognise is that our climate is changing. So many of the models and tools that we use for managing floods and droughts are based on what we've seen before. We need to make sure that we have tools that are able to allow us to manage these extremes in the future as they change. Many farmers are already changing what they do to try and cope with a change in climate, for instance, improving their soils in the hopes that they will absorb more water. Is that sort of thing something you're also going to be looking at? Yes, for sure, yeah. We recognise that they're currently doing some really good practices to do this. A lot of the project will focus on many of these interventions, whether they be planting trees, providing flood storage areas on farmland, blocking of land drains, restoring rivers, things like minimum tillage, increase in organic matter. But what we really want to understand is how these are working under these extreme events. And how long before you have information which can inform policy and help people facing flooding? We just started the implementation of this project now and the implementation will take five years. The first instruments will start to go in a summer of 2025. We'll also be releasing historic data so there will be data available very soon but it will build up throughout that period. What impact do you hope it'll have? It will enable us to develop these tools to better manage floods and droughts in the future. One really important thing is that we would be able to develop models that would be much more sensitive to changes so they would have more understanding on the importance of things like groundwater interactions, vegetation, soils, all these things. So rather than just modeling rainfall and river flows, we would be including much more understanding of the processes. And then that allows us to look at scenarios in the future and what the implications are of things we can do on the land. Gareth old from the flood and drought research infrastructure plans to get abattoirs to take on more of the cost of vets and to meet inspectors are excessive and dangerous according to the meat industry. The association of independent meat suppliers aims which represents both big and small slaughter houses said the food standards agencies proposal to remove or reduce the discount offered to smaller abattoirs risks single-handedly destroying the foundations of the British meat industry. The FSA which covers England, Northern Ireland and Wales has issued a call for evidence on the proposed changes saying that the costs of providing inspectors and official vets known as OVs have increased and that needs to be passed on to businesses. Peter Hewson, veterinary director at Ames costs have gone up, discounts have gone down and we've now got to a stage where our companies at the moment are paying so much more than equivalent companies in Europe, France, Ireland for instance. So a sort of medium-sized slaughterhouse now here would be paying about 3,000 a month. In France or Ireland, the equivalent will be paying about 800 a month. The full cost without the discount would be about 8,000 a month and FSA are saying they're going to increase their costs considering next year with the new contract. So we're looking at potentially if the discount went UK plants paying 10 times what a plant would pay in France or Ireland that just not possible then to survive on that sort of payment. This is though the system that ensures the welfare of animals and the safety of food so it is needed isn't it? Well it gives consumers some comfort I think to know that plants have official veterinarians in them to look after the welfare of animals. As far as food safety is concerned, the European Food Safety Authority says that meat inspection doesn't identify any of the pathogens associated with meat. So if you had your way then would you change this system and get rid of parts of it? Oh yes, there's been a worldwide move to make the system more risk-based because really meat inspection is a little more than quality control but of course meat is traded on the basis that everyone does the same and so it's very difficult for one country to move and still maintain its training position. Some of the people in Australia for instance they have taken the meat inspection in-house in poultry plants in this country. It's quite allowable for operators to do their own meat inspection with the presence of the OV being there for welfare. You don't mention words here, you say that the food standards agency is deeply bureaucratic and inefficient with multiple layers of management idling and administrative processes adding unnecessary costs so which bits of it would you cut? Well there are two problems with the current costs of FSA while there's inefficiency and the other is they charge for things that other countries don't charge for. I think the inefficiency stems from dual management. The OVs and half the meat inspectors are supplied by a third party. That third party supplies its own management over those people and then FSA supplies another layer of management over those people to ensure that the contract is being delivered properly. Those costs shouldn't be passed to industry but they are being. The system though has got more expensive to provide. Isn't it fair that you should pay not taxpayers? Industry can only pay what it can afford to pay. I mean if it were good value for money I would say why not but it isn't good value for money. What would be the impact if the charges are passed on in full to up it was? I would say that at least half the slaughterhouses in the UK would close and that would be weighted towards the smaller and the medium sized. The larger ones will survive of course but it would wipe out the small and medium sized slaughterhouses. Peter Hewson from the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers. Rebecca Sudworth is policy director at the Food Standards Agency. She says this is a consultation process. Each year we work really closely with the meat industry and other stakeholders on the setting of charges for the year ahead. So this isn't a new process. We do know however that costs are going up and also for the FSA in particular the costs of recruiting and retaining vets have also risen. So we've been really honest about the likelihood that costs will rise next year and as we do every year we're going to be working really closely with industry to give us their views about the impacts of the discounts that we currently offer. But as you've just heard the meat industry say you're charging too much already you could go up to 10 times more than they charge in France for instance and that you are fundamentally a bureaucratic and inefficient organisation. Well look I can't comment on the costs in the EU. Our system of meat inspection is very closely based on the EU system. This system of inspection is a very fundamental underpinning for the safety and quality of our food and we think that it provides very very good value. But you were also criticised for having two layers of management you're charging for things that aren't charged for abroad you are as they said inefficient. I would strongly dispute that if you look at the size of the meat industry which is worth about 11 billion pounds a year our total charges last year were around 40 million pounds after discounts and that is a very small amount compared with the value of the sector. Having safe high quality food and our meat is produced at very high standards in this country is really important and it's absolutely right that businesses pay for this service. We're an extremely transparent organisation. It's absolutely right that the way in which we regulators is scrutinised and we're very open to that. We have no interest in being inefficient it's important to us to be regulating in the most effective way. Would you consider moving to what Peter Houston described as a more risk based system and perhaps allowing people to take things in house as he put it? So that's not for now so we have two priorities at the moment you know we'll be setting the charges for next year which is something that we do each year and we'll be working closely with the industry on that and we're also taking the opportunity through our consultation to invite comments on how the current system of discounts is working. Ames and other organisations like the rare breed survival trusts say the reality here is that if you put more costs particularly on smaller medium sized abattoirs you will simply put them out of business. Do you share that concern? Well we share the concern to make sure that our costs are fair and they reflect the value that the service provides to the industry so when we provide a discount as we do and we do recognise that smaller businesses may have more difficulty in meeting some of these costs. It's really important that we have the evidence about why that is helpful, why that is good for consumers, good for taxpayers, good for industry and that's exactly why we've launched this consultation. We really want to hear about the benefits of those discounts as well as some of the problems that can arise. Rebecca Sudworth from the Food Standards Agency that consultation is open until the 24th of this month. That's it from us I'm Charlotte Smith the producer is Rebecca Rooney. Farming Today is a BBC audio Bristol production. Now over to the BBC Weather Centre for the Farming Today five day forecast. Do you ever wonder what your favourite foods come from and like what's the history behind bacon wrapped hot dogs? 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