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Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed is facing intense pressure to name and shame factories fined for excessive trimming of carcases and to lift the lid on the factory inspection process.
Full transparency is being called for following last week’s revelations in the Irish Farmers Journal of 21 factory fines for carcase trimming.
Attention has now focused on how robust the Department of Agriculture’s inspection process is in ensuring that carcases are trimmed to the correct specification and farmers are paid on the proper weight of their animal.
Further revelations show “strange” fluctuations in the application of carcase trim fines, according to IFA president Joe Healy. “To say there were 28 offences uncovered in 2016 and 21 so far in 2018 but zero in 2015 and 2017 is illogical,” Healy said.
“We need an immediate explanation from the minister as to what is happening in our meat plants.”
Frustration
As reports continue of farmers facing difficulty in getting cattle into factories, many have been left with a bitter sense of frustration after a tough year of weather with higher feed and fertiliser costs.
This has been compounded by a static beef price and Teagasc’s report that suckler and beef farmers’ incomes are down 19% and 10%, respectively, compared with 2017.
Compensation
In cases where a carcase has been excessively trimmed, it is understood that the farmer affected will be informed by the factory and the farmer will be compensated.
Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed told the Dáil on Thursday 6 December it was his understanding that “processors will introduce a payment to the farmer supplier to reflect any loss”.
He said that he understood MII accepted “no individual farmer should be at a loss from a mistake made in a factory” and as a result the payment would be introduced.
Additional reporting by Barry Cassidy.
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