Clearer guidance documents, more data transparency and increased focus on skills are some of the recommendations to come from the six-month UK meat processing review.

The UK’s two food regulators published a draft review on Monday with a series of recommendations for the meat industry and the regulators themselves aimed at improving compliance and assurance in the meat processing industry.

The list of recommendations will be subject to the approval of the boards of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) which will meet on 17 October.

The 19 recommendations for industry and regulators include:

  • Greater involvement of industry to produce clearer guidance to meet the needs of food businesses.
  • Increased focus on skills and capabilities across industry.
  • Greater data transparency and sharing across industry and with the regulators.
  • More effective use of data by regulatory authorities and improved regulatory co-ordination and consistency.
  • Trialling the feasibility of using a single organisation to deliver all official controls in a geographic location.
  • "We launched this review following a series of high-profile events over the last 12 months at a number of meat businesses,” said FSA chief executive Jason Feeney.

    Shadow

    “These incidents cast a shadow over the whole sector and not just the businesses directly at fault. This challenged consumer confidence and trust in the industry as a whole.”

    A comprehensive stakeholder engagement and evidence-gathering process has been conducted.

    During the process of the review, all 419 local authorities in the UK were contacted and 325 food business organisations to seek their views. Workshops were also held and attended by almost 100 organisations, food businesses, local authorities and trade bodies.

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    Reputation is everything in the food industry