Surprisingly, there are two Irish processors that have only about 50% of their suppliers audited for the Bord Bia Quality Assurance Scheme.

Most of the processors have over 70% of suppliers audited to date. The names of the processors were not released at the meeting.

At the meeting, the co-op chiefs called for 100% of farms to be audited, suggesting the sooner the better for the sector.

74.6% of dairy farms in the country are certified

Bord Bia’s Michael Houlihan, dairy quality assurance sector manager, gave an update on the most recent number of dairy farmers that have completed the Quality Assurance Scheme.

He said: “Up to the end of the first week in December, 16,460 applications have been made to complete the Quality Assurance test or 92.5% of the dairy farms nationally. Of this, 15,284 farms have been released for audit (85.7%). All this means the actual number of certified farms stands at 13,284 farms, 74.6% of dairy farms in the country."

The time period to get all dairy farms audited has taken longer than anticipated

In total, more than 20,535 dairy farms have been audited (78.4%), meaning about 6,580 dairy farms have had a second audit (a renewal visit).

The time period to get all dairy farms audited has taken longer than anticipated. The first farms were audited in early 2014 but it wasn’t until early 2015 that the majority of dairy farms started the audit process. As the end of 2016 approaches, Bord Bia would expect to have 100% of farms audited.

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Dairy leaders differ on Quality Assurance