New regulations to ensure traceability in pork from farm to fork…

Friday 25 January 2008

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has announced new regulations that call for slaughterhouses to ask for information about pigs received for processing.

Pig producers are now required to provide Food Chain Information (FCI) – a range of facts about the farm and the pigs destined for the food chain, including the history of rearing, their exposure to veterinary medicines and their health status – to the slaughterhouse.

Jim Ross, Head of Meat Hygiene at the FSA Northern Ireland said:

'Food chain information joins the production and processing links in the food chain and is an important part of the farm-to-fork approach to food safety. As well as contributing to slaughterhouse operators' HACCP-based food safety management systems, FCI will give the FSA the opportunity to introduce risk-based inspection procedures. Many processors will already have much of this information as part of their normal procurement process – we’re determined not to add unnecessary red tape, and have worked with the industry to produce guidance to ensure that the information is simple and useful.'

Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) President Kenneth Sharkey said; 'The Food Standards Agency is responding to EU legislation which now requires slaughterhouses to provide food chain information for each consignment of pigs they receive. The UFU has worked closely with the FSA, Grampian, Assured British Pigs and DARD to oversee the introduction of this new requirement with the minimum of bureaucracy.

'We are continuing to work with DARD to ensure there is no duplication of information. Initial discussions have been positive and we have stressed the importance of keeping bureaucracy to a minimum in line with the Agriculture Ministers commitment to this issue. We will be urging retailers to recognise this as another example of the provenance of local pork and bacon.'

Letters about the FCI requirements have been sent to Northern Ireland pig slaughterhouses. These and further guidance on the requirements have been published and can be found at the link below.