While most farmers and factory operators have long been convinced on the merits of mechanical grading taking the personalities out of cattle grading, one very important service to farmers was lost with the change. That service was monitoring of cattle dressing by factory staff on an individual animal basis.

Scrutiny of factory dressing is now limited to inspectors from the department calling to inspect the standard of trim. With the best will in the world it takes time from when an inspector arrives on site until they reach the kill floor, enough for factory staff to check and make sure they are spot on.

Trimming

Through no fault of anyone’s this is the level of monitoring that is ideal. Over-trimming carcases isn’t necessarily a pre-planned factory scheme to trim the carcase closer than allowed under the EU defined standard. It can happen through carelessness or lack of attention to detail, but it has the potential to cost farmers.

Frequent complaints to the Irish Farmers Journal about factory trim suggest that there is at the very least a lack of confidence in the present system.

In fairness, all parties at the Beef Forum recognise the need for independent scrutiny and the Minister undertook to strengthen controls around trim in meat plants in accordance with EU regulations. It appears that there have been delays while work practices of department staff are negotiated but the reality is that this should be seen as an essential scrutiny in the weighing of cattle dressed to specification.

When done properly there is no impact on anyone, but if the scrutiny process was to reveal incorrect dressing procedure, sanctions should apply. Why not name and shame any persistent offender? The desire to avoid such publicity would be an excellent guarantee of the proper attention being given to the trimming process, and if we were never to hear of the issue again it would be a sign that everything around carcase dressing is as it should be.