The privatisation of meat inspection services poses a risk to public health and is bad for consumers and UNISON will fight moves to privatise and de-regulate.
Graeme Anderson, UNISON Scotland Convener for the Food Standards Agency, told delegates that Food Standards meat inspectors and vets are the thin red line which ensures that each piece of meat produced in the UK has been inspected and passed for human consumption.
In 1995, the Tory Government transferred meat inspectors from District Councils to the Meat Hygiene Service who took a light touch deregulatory policy and cut staff.
“Less than a year later, the first of many crises emerged, “mad cow disease”, a terrifying threat to human health,” said Graeme, adding that regulation was tightened again in response, but didn’t last.
BSE was not the end of the crisis, added Graeme, pointing to e coli outbreaks in Wales and Scotland, foot and mouth, the list goes on.
“You would be forgiven for believing the notion that the meat industry is able to police itself should have been consigned to the history books,” said Graeme, but warned that the reality is different with a continuing drive to weaken independent meat inspection.
He explained that the latest crisis, the horsemeat scandal, came about because the Meat Hygiene Service stopped unannounced inspections, opening up the opportunity for meat plant owners to mix cheaper horsemeat with beef and therefore make more money. Despite a belated return to a system of unannounced inspections, “history tells us that this particular crisis will only bring a short-term relief from de-regulation.”
He added that, only last month, whilst the horsemeat crisis was still ongoing, the UK Food Standards Agency supported an EU proposal to put an end to important post mortem checks carried out in pig abattoirs, which prevent conditions such as abscesses and tuberculosis ending up in our sausages and pork pies.
“Eating an abscess may be harmless, but would you class one as meat?” asked Graeme.
UNISON is working hard to resist these changes and to keep up the pressure on government.
“We have fought and won in Europe twice before,” said Graeme, vowing to keep up the pressure, and reminding conference that the public is also on our side. A Mori Poll commissioned by UNISON showed that the public overwhelmingly believe that meat inspection should be kept under official control.
Graeme added, “Our members who work on the coalface in abattoirs are faced with abuse and bullying. They are sick of working for an employer who is constantly trying to remove them from the frontline of consumer protection.
He told delegates that in supporting the motion today, they will be speaking on behalf of the majority of UK consumers as well as our members within the Food Standards Agency, “who do so much unseen work to keep consumers safe from harm.”
