Concern over Rise in Meat Fraud Cases

Concern is rising in Poland over the number of meat fraud cases that have been discovered.

Almost 18 per cent of the meat in 108 processing plants that had been investigated by the Agriculture and Food Quality Inspectorate had a different content than that declared by producers.

This was more than five per cent higher than in the fourth quarter of 2010, and nearly 13 per cent greater than at the end of 2008.

This discovery was made at a time when a key conference in Krakow was discussing an Eastern Partnership of countries to establish EU law in the area of veterinary and phytosanitary issues, food safety and quality.

In the UK, the British Food Standards Agency is to encourage slaughterhouses to use CCTV to monitor animal welfare in their plants.

A paper to be presented to the FSA Board next week encourages CCTV as part of a range of safeguards to ensure the highest standards of animal welfare.

The FSA says it continues to work with businesses and meat industry representatives to encourage voluntary installation of CCTV as best practice.

In addition, the FSA is currently gathering a body of evidence from a range of sources, including those businesses that already use CCTV, to determine the benefits of CCTV.

A report from the European Food Safety Authority shows that compliance rates over pesticide residues in food in the EU are continuing to rise, with 97.4 per cent of the samples analysed falling within the permitted Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs), a rise of about one percentage point since 2008.

The data is published in the European Food Safety Authority's third Annual Report on Pesticide Residues, which gives an overview of pesticide residues found in food, including food of animal origin, in the European Union during 2009 and assesses the exposure of consumers to those residues through their diets.