The Department of Agriculture is to trial a new computer system for tests in meat plants after factory vets complained about the paperwork involved.

“We have no computer system to record the hundreds of audits or the thousands of inspections we carry out every year,” Veterinary Public Health officials write in Department documents seen by the Irish Farmers Journal.

“There is a huge overhead in maintaining this paper-based system and in the provision of reports both to management board and Food Safety Authority of Ireland.”

The new system has been trialled and factory vets say it is necessary and hope it will be rolled out later this year.

Some 650 temporary veterinary inspectors (TVIs) work under contract in meat factories every day across Ireland and this year’s budget for their services is marked at €23.25m.

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