The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed that no meat factory has been fined for excessive carcass trimming since 2020.
Between 2016-2020, eight factories were fined in relation to a total of 52 non-compliant carcasses.
They were: Kildare Chilling; Traditional Meats; Meadow Meats; Kepak Kilbeggan; Emerald Isle Foods; Kepak Clare; Kavanagh Meats; and Ballon Meats.
During that time period, almost 237,000 carcasses were examined by inspectors.
Factories found to breach regulations can be given an on-the-spot fine of €200. The minister for agriculture can also serve a fixed-payment notice via which €250/carcass can be applied per offence.
All fines that were issued to meat factories have been paid, DAFM said.
DAFM
Since 2019, the department said that it has “invested significantly” in the training of veterinary public health staff on the requirements of the regulation regarding carcass trim specification.
“These staff have a permanent presence in the factories and their daily checks are additional to the dedicated inspection checks conducted by staff involved in beef carcass classification.
“Dedicated DAFM inspection controls on carcass trim are back to pre-Covid-19 rates of approximately 50,000 carcasses/year,” a DAFM spokesperson told Agriland.
The department has not detected any non-compliant carcasses in meat factories subject to inspections in 2021, 2022 or to date this year.
In 2022, 53,935 carcasses were inspected, which was up from 28,290 carcasses which were examined during the previous year.
Independent TD Carol Nolan also raised the issue through a recent parliamentary question to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue.
The Laois-Offaly TD commended the ongoing oversight and monitoring of this important issue by the department and its team.
“Farmers must be able to maintain trust in factories on this issue, so the verifiable reduction in the practice of excessive carcass trimming by factories is very welcome.
“We need to ensure that this level of compliance is maintained for farmers and the protection of their incomes,” she said.
The total number of cattle slaughterings at DAFM-approved meat plants increased by 133,362 in 2022 to 1,820,489, compared to 1,687,127 in the previous year.
Steers (39.2%), heifers (27.6%) and cows (22.7%) account for 89.5% of the total slaughtering at DAFM plants. Young bulls make up a further 7.3%.