Objections Raised to Meat Inspection Charges Plan

Meat, food and agriculture organisations in the US have hit out at proposals to introduce “user fees” for federal inspection of meat, poultry and egg products as the committee works to craft a deficit reduction plan.

In a letter to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction the organisations say: "The industry stands ready to work with both the Administration and the Committee to find ways to reduce overhead costs at the Food Safety Inspection Service, especially in this time of extreme economic hardship, but those reductions should not jeopardize either the Agency’s public health mission or its Congressional mandate for continuous inspection in the meat and poultry industries.”

In the UK, the Food Standards Agency has called on the Government not to support European Commission proposals to relax a ban on using pig and poultry processed animal proteins (PAP) in feed.

The advice follows the FSA Board's discussion at its meeting in Cardiff on 7 September. Although the Board accepted that the available risk assessments showed that the proposed changes would give rise to a negligible risk, they were concerned that this relied on effective enforcement of controls.

However, the National Farmers' Union in the UK has expressed disappointment at the food authority's stance.

The UK authorities have also put forward proposals to allow the use of a biphasic carbon dioxide gas mixture to kill poultry in slaughterhouses.

The proposals are part of amendments to the Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995 (WASK), which have been sent out for consultation in the industry by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).