The Department of Agriculture has published the list of factories fined for excessive carcase trim in 2018.
In total, there were 19 cases.
The revelations sparked uproar from the farming community as farmers felt robbed by factories.
The list of cases is as follows -
Emerald Isle Foods - 5Kildare Chilling Company - 3KEPAK Clare - 11In 2017, no factory was fined for excessive carcase trim and the Department stated that this was due to: "A concerted campaign by DAFM, with the co-operation of Meat Industry Ireland, took place in that year to raise awareness of the standard of presentation and the requirements for carcase dressing."
However, IFA president Joe Healy called the fluctuations in fines from year to year bizarre and called for greater transparency of the grading system in factories.
Kepak
Kepak has apologised to farmers for the issue and said on average it has a 99.9% compliance rate.
"Kepak Group confirms that on two separate occasions, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s (DAFM) beef carcase dressing monitoring programme found carcases not to be in full compliance with the EU dressing standard," KEPAK said.
"An inspection at our Kilbeggan plant in 2016 (3rd Nov) found 16 carcases that were deemed not to be in full compliance with the EU dressing standard and in 2018 (10th Sept) an inspection at our Clare plant found 11 such carcases.
"A Kepak representative has spoken to the farmers affected to explain the background and to apologise for this non-compliance."
The Department of Agriculture has published the list of factories fined for excessive carcase trim in 2018.
In total, there were 19 cases.
The revelations sparked uproar from the farming community as farmers felt robbed by factories.
The list of cases is as follows -
Emerald Isle Foods - 5Kildare Chilling Company - 3KEPAK Clare - 11In 2017, no factory was fined for excessive carcase trim and the Department stated that this was due to: "A concerted campaign by DAFM, with the co-operation of Meat Industry Ireland, took place in that year to raise awareness of the standard of presentation and the requirements for carcase dressing."
However, IFA president Joe Healy called the fluctuations in fines from year to year bizarre and called for greater transparency of the grading system in factories.
Kepak
Kepak has apologised to farmers for the issue and said on average it has a 99.9% compliance rate.
"Kepak Group confirms that on two separate occasions, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s (DAFM) beef carcase dressing monitoring programme found carcases not to be in full compliance with the EU dressing standard," KEPAK said.
"An inspection at our Kilbeggan plant in 2016 (3rd Nov) found 16 carcases that were deemed not to be in full compliance with the EU dressing standard and in 2018 (10th Sept) an inspection at our Clare plant found 11 such carcases.
"A Kepak representative has spoken to the farmers affected to explain the background and to apologise for this non-compliance."
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