A review of the inspection processes used by the various certification bodies that conduct audits under the Red Tractor dairy quality assurance scheme is currently taking place.

NI Food Chain Certification is the main certification body in NI, and four different companies inspect under the Red Tractor scheme in Britain. With each body using a different inspection checklist, concerns have been raised that audits in Britain could potentially be more variable than in NI.

“We are doing an internal piece of work where we are looking at all the certification bodies’ internal procedures to identify if there are any significant differences,” Philippa Wiltshire from Red Tractor told the Irish Farmers Journal on Wednesday.

“We are in the process of doing this, but at the moment nothing has flagged up showing that there is a massive difference,” she added.

From 1 April 2019, participants in the Red Tractor dairy scheme can be subject to an unannounced inspection if they have significant non-conformances in a routine audit.

Wiltshire said that no dairy farmers in NI have received unannounced audits yet, as Red Tractor is still in the process of identifying recently audited farms that are eligible for follow-up inspections.

“We are only five weeks into the programme,” she said.

She also confirmed that unannounced inspections for the Red Tractor beef and lamb scheme will “probably be introduced towards the end of the year”.

The NI beef and lamb Farm Quality Assurance Scheme is affiliated with the Red Tractor scheme, however, farmers and industry stakeholders in NI are opposed to the introduction of the new audits, given that most NI beef and lamb producers are part time.

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