Cost of meat safety inspections to rise

Abattoirs and meat cutting plants face steep rises in the charges imposed for safety inspections from 2011. The increases are the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) attempts to recoup the deficit resulting from its Board’s reluctant agreement to a 4% increase in charges last week, rather than the 9% it had originally wanted.

The Board members agreed to the lower increases for charges imposed by Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) inspections to get progress on a new and more efficient “time-cost” system of charging following an industry consultation​ on the proposals.
While acknowledging that the FSA was coming into a period where “the agency budget will be under pressure”. Richard Calvert, FSA director of strategy and resources, remarked: “In the current recession we don’t think that [the 9% proposal] is a sensible increase this year or next year.”
This is a significant concession given that MHS chief executive Steve McGraph informed the Board that the true cost of serving a small abattoir was around £10,000 a year, while charges would only increase to around £1,040 under the 4% increase.
As well as the lower 4% increase in charges, the Board accepted amendments not to introduce a new charge for official controls on the removal of specified risk material (part of animals such as spinal columns, which carry the highest risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy infectivity).
FSA chair Deirdre Hutton remarked: “The industry have asked us for certainty and we have given them certainty up to 2014/15.”
However, charges will have to rise by 7-8% from 2011/12 if the target of reducing government subsidies to the sector from the current £31M to £10M by 2014/15 are to be achieved. By that date the MHS’s annual costs will need to have been reduced from the current £78.4M to £60.7M.
The proposals, which are subject to ministerial approval, coincide with a major restructuring of the MHS, an executive part of the FSA, representing around a third of its expenditure.
Since 2006/07 the MHS has reduced its gross expenditure from £91.3M to an expected £78.4M (down 14%) in 2008/09. It is on track to reduce costs to £70.3M by 2010/11.
Staff numbers have also been reduced, with the MHS’s full-time equivalent head count cut from 2,024 in 2006/07 to 1,614 in 2008/09. A further 200 posts are scheduled to go by 2010/11.