The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) is working to ensure a “phased” transfer of the local authority veterinary service to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
Currently, there are two veterinary inspection systems in place in Ireland, comprising veterinary inspectors at the DAFM and the local authorities.
A final date for the transition to a single national veterinary service has yet to be set, the CEO of the FSAI Dr. Pamela Byrne told Agriland.
At present, local authorities have a service contract with the FSAI to enforce food law at certain food businesses, including small meat manufacturing plants and slaughterhouses.
The FSAI has service contracts in place until the end of February, and is working with local authorities to set out the contractual requirements over the course of the transitional phase.
The FSAI and other stakeholders are working to make sure that the veterinary controls take place and that there’s “no reduction” in the protection of consumer health, she added.
“But also that those businesses can continue to operate because it is a legal requirement that those businesses have an inspector authorised to go in and carry out the inspection.
“That authorisation comes from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and therefore it’s a critical part of the service contract,” the CEO of the FSAI said.
National veterinary service
An “agreement in principle” was recently reached between the FSAI and the responsible government departments to have a single national veterinary service.
The agreement would involve the Local Authority Veterinary Service (LAVS) being incorporated into the existing DAFM veterinary service.
It’s understood that inspectors would continue to enforce the same legislation in the small abattoirs that they currently supervise, but their employment would transfer to the DAFM.
Early last month, the Department of Health, the DAFM, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the FSAI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).