Raising the issue at its board meeting last month, FSA chief executive Tim Smith said: "There is a fundamental issue that needs to be dealt with." But he added: "The industry in general is in denial that there is a problem of any significance."
Smith reported to the board that it was important to convince everyone involved that the FSA was intent on stamping out this sort of behaviour, which he said was completely unacceptable in a modern working environment.
"We do have a significant cultural problem to solve, not just within our own organisation, but within the industry that we regulate," said Smith. "Ultimately, to prove a point, it might be necessary to withdraw the controls that we provide [that are necessary for approval of meat for sale] to make the point that this is just as unacceptable as producing unsafe meat."
Harassment
He called for greater reporting of incidents, which would inevitably result in the number of cases of harassment going up before they were brought down.
The latest findings are from a survey commissioned by the FSA last summer, which built on an earlier survey by the union Unison, which represents many meat inspectors. The FSA survey found that 60% of staff working in meat plants reported either personally experiencing (50%) or seeing examples of workplace bullying over the past 12 months. Because of the "slaughterhouse culture", it is suspected that there is "significant under-reporting" of bullying and harassment, said Smith.
In response, Stephen Rossides, director of the British Meat Processors Association, which represents many of the UK's abattoirs, said: "Bullying and harassment in the workplace is not acceptable. We are not fully aware of the methodology of the FSA's survey and at this stage cannot comment on the scale or categories of alleged incidents. It is very important that the FSA thoroughly investigates alleged incidents of bullying and harassment to ensure the extent to which some incidents may be petty or contrived."
Final sanction
Rossides added: "Any withdrawal of services to plants must be an ultimate and final sanction in the most serious cases. The regulatory response to a serious issue must remain proportionate.
"It is important to understand what is happening and why to get to the bottom of it and not just threaten to close plants. We have to address the issue by understanding the underlying causes and addressing them."
The FSA board was in strong support of the executive. FSA chairman Jeff Rooker added: "If we withdraw our staff, they are out of business because they can't operate without our staff."