Scots overwhelmingly support meat inspectors staying independent, says UNISON

Wed 15 April 2015

UNISON Scotland are highlighting an independent survey showing that Scots want slaughterhouses to be independently inspected by government meat safety inspectors.

This polling is released when there is continued pressure from Europe to de-regulate meat inspectors, and when meat inspectors have been brought into a new Scottish Government Agency, Food Standards Scotland.

UNISON Scotland has released the independent polling, from Ispos MORI, showing that almost all Scots (98%) believe that official slaughterhouses should be inspected to ensure they are meeting food safety and quality standards; the vast majority of Scots (95%) believe that slaughterhouses should continue to operate to official standards; three quarters of Scots also believe slaughterhouses should be inspected independently (75%), and majority of Scots (70%) also agree that standards are more likely to be met if they are carried out by government inspectors.

Dave Watson, UNISON Scottish organiser, said: 
"This report is a timely reminder to Scottish Government that food safety is a priority for Scots. Scots believe the meat trade should be independently inspected and regulated, and they think that meat inspection should be carried out by government inspectors.

"This is too important to get wrong.

"We have been concerned about the lighter touch regulation which has been promoted across UK and EU meat trades. The Scottish Government’s new agency Food Standards Scotland must ensure we maintain a strong, well regulated, independent meat inspection regime."

ends

Notes for editors:

• UNISON is the biggest trade union in Scotland and represents meat inspectors. 

• The independent polling was carried out by Ipsos MORI, published in February 2015, and can be read here:
http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/ndpb/meathygiene/
PublicAttitudestoInspectionofSlaughterhousesinScotland_Feb2015.pdf 

• Previous UNISON press release on deregulation of the meat tradehttp://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/news/2014/mayjun/0610.htm

• Scottish Government brought food safety into a new Food Standards Scotland on 1 April 2015. Food Standards Scotland has a new broader remit to consider consumer protection more generally. It includes making sure food is safe to eat but also food labelling and improving nutrition.

Meat Inspectors Strike

There was a good response this morning from farmers and others at the meat inspectors picket line at the Scotbeef plant in Bridge of Allen. Food safety is important to protect quality meat brands. As well as consumers.

And at other plants across Scotland.

 

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Meat hygiene inspectors strike for fair pay

Meat hygiene inspectors, vets and support staff are embarking on two days of strike action from today in a long-running dispute over pay.

Two four-hour walkouts are scheduled to take place, from 6.30am-10.30am on Tuesday, August 26, and again on Wednesday, August 27.

The decision follows a ballot earlier this month, which saw UNISON’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) members overwhelmingly vote for strike action over an imposed pay offer of just 0.75%, while most other public service workers have been offered a 1% increase.

UNISON has previously invited the FSA to resolve the pay dispute through independent conciliation. Even as late as last week, UNISON asked them to reconsider and go to ACAS for arbitration, but they refused.

Dave Watson, UNISON Scotland’s Head of Bargaining and Campaigns, said: “Meat inspectors, official veterinarians and support staff cost each person in the country just 38 pence per year. When you consider that since April 2012, they have prevented over a million instances of diseased animal carcasses from entering the food chain, it’s a small price to pay for safer food.

Staff who keep our food safer deserve a pay rise

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) hasn't had the best of press recently, now they have forced their staff out on strike and refused to resolve the dispute at ACAS.

There has been growing concern over the way the FSA handles food safety across the UK. It's part of the reason why Scotland is in the process of establishing a separate body, although many of the problems are likely to remain here as well.

A recent survey for the Food Standards Agency showed 59% of raw chicken bought at supermarkets contained the potentially deadly bacteria Campylobacter. As an article in the Scotsman put it, "After a decade of trying to get the poultry industry to clean up its act, the Food Standards Agency had promised to name and shame the worst offenders in the first quarter of its year-long survey. However, pressure from the industry has led the FSA to back down".

Animal welfare in abattoirs

The BBC Scotland 2014 programme ran a piece on animal welfare standards in abattoirs on 2 July.

It shows, through secret filming and interviews with abattoir workers and farmers, shocking animal welfare standards in Scottish and UK abattoirs. This piece shows that we need stronger regulation, resisting efforts to lower standards.

The Scottish meat brand will not be protected by abandoning regulation. It is therefore in the interests of consumers and meat producers to ensure we have the highest standards. The recent decision by the Scottish Government to end the visual inspection of pigs is just one example of this deregulatory approach. Mincing tumours and abscesses into our sausages cannot be right.

 

 

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