Following a second meeting with representatives from ABP, the Ulster Farmers Union (UFU) has claimed that a decision by ABP factories in NI and Britain to increase deductions applied at slaughter might only be a temporary move.

Speaking after the meeting, UFU president Ian Marshall said that ABP had made a commitment that its rendering costs will be reduced again in the future.

“It is our view that this must happen immediately,” he said.

The reason cited by ABP for the increased charge is a downturn in commodity prices for animal by-products. It has left total slaughter charges for prime cattle at ABP factories in NI at over £19/head.

However, ABP is not the only factory in Britain to have increased its charges for waste disposal, with the National Farmers Union calling on those factories which have increased their charges to fully explain why.

It is an issue that causes much frustration for farmers. A finisher, who contacted the Irish Farmers Journal, said that “waste disposal is an overhead cost for a factory, just like electricity or water. Farmers also have overhead costs, but we don’t go asking our suppliers to cover these costs”.

Information obtained by the Irish Farmers Journal in relation to killing charges applied by a number of major slaughter plants in Britain would suggest that waste disposal costs there are generally in the range of £2.50 to £4.50/head. In NI, the waste disposal charges applied by factories are all at the upper end of this range.

Inspection

The other area where farmers in Britain face much lower charges is in meat inspection – something that’s required under EU law and in place to ensure consumers are protected against unsafe meat. Generally, meat inspection in NI costs around £5/head. In Britain, the range is generally £1.50 to £3/head. It means that despite much higher statutory levies in Britain (EBLEX takes £4.05/head compared with £1/head at the LMC), it usually costs less to kill an animal in Britain than here.

So why are these meat inspection charges so much higher in NI? In Britain, meat inspection is the responsibility of the Food Standards Agency (FSA), but in NI this responsibility is handed over to DARD veterinary service, which conducts inspections on behalf of the FSA.

In the latter part of 2012/2013, the FSA commissioned the National Audit Office (NAO) to undertake a review of its meat controls in NI and Britain. The report, published in May 2013, noted that meat hygiene delivery costs in Britain are down 40% from 2005/2006 to 2011/2012 as a result of cuts to FSA staff levels.

However, the report questioned how meat hygiene costs in NI are calculated, stating that there is a lack of detailed information on how DARD overhead costs are added to the cost of hygiene controls carried out by DARD and charged to the FSA. These costs are then passed on to meat plants, which in turn pass them onto farmers. The obvious conclusion is that farmers in NI are being asked to shoulder DARD costs not directly associated with meat inspection.

In 2011, the Department revealed that meat inspection charges levied on meat plants in NI were in the range of £3.07 to £5.35/head.