Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions have taken place with the Food Standards Agency concerning their plans to cut the overall number of inspections of abattoirs, in the light of reports that one in four are failing to take basic hygiene precautions.

No discussions have taken place with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) as there are no plans to cut the overall number of inspections in abattoirs. The FSA spends around £45 million per annum conducting a large number of inspection, verification, enforcement and audit tasks at approved meat establishments to ensure compliance with the regulations.

These controls extend beyond meat inspection duties and encompass areas as diverse as animal welfare, zoonotic controls, animal by-products and microbiological sampling.