Fines have been paid by a meat factory that breached carcass trim requirements in 2024, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed.
A total of three fines were handed to the Dawn Meats abattoir facility in Grannagh, on the Waterford/Kilkenny border.
The DAFM has confirmed to Agriland that there were three carcasses with breaches of carcass trim requirement at Dawn Grannagh, which resulted in a total fine of €750 (three €250 fines).
The department also confirmed that the fine has been paid.
Authorised officers of the Department of Agriculture (Carcass Classification Division) carry out inspections in all 33 factories that operate Beef Carcass Classification
All carcass inspected for carcass classification are also inspected for carcass trim.
Details of each factory fined for breaches of carcass trim specification from 2016 to date can be found in the table below:
Year Factories fined 2016 Kildare Chilling, Co. Kildare;
Traditional Meats, Co. Meath;
Meadow Meats, Co. Laois;
Kepak Kilbeggan, Co. Westmeath.2017 – 2018 Emerald Isle Foods, Co. Kilkenny;
Kildare Chilling Co. Kildare;
Kepak Clare, Co. Clare.2019 Kavanagh Meats, Co. Wexford. 2020 Ballon Meats, Co. Carlow. 2021 – 2022 – 2023 – 2024 (year-to-date) Dawn Meats Grannagh, Co. Waterford.
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.
All fines that were issued to those meat factories have been paid, the DAFM confirmed.
During that time period, almost 237,000 carcasses were examined by inspectors.
The department did not detect any non-compliant carcasses in meat factories subject to inspections in 2021, 2022 or in 2023.
Last year in 2023, a total of 728 inspections took place across all factories resulting in checks on 64,346 carcasses.