FSA official controls charges need urgent reform and modernisation

This week, the Food Standards Agency announced a 17.7% price hike for Official Veterinarian charges to meat businesses and an 11.3% rise in the cost of Meat Inspectors from this April. Additionally, the agency is proposing a drastic reduction in the current discount on charges from next year. Combined, these changes will put further strain on meat companies that already operate at very small margins (often less than 2%). It will add to food price inflation for shoppers, and it will render our exports less competitive against competitor countries which benefit from far more efficient, modern and cheaper systems.

BMPA has written to the Food Standards Agency calling for urgent reform and modernisation of a system that is currently inefficient, riddled with duplication and behind the curve in employing proven technology that could transform how these services are delivered. We have also highlighted the opacity of the system of charging which we believe means that the industry is funding not just direct costs associated with statutory food safety inspections but also other, unrelated, overheads of the FSA.

We, along with other meat industry organisations, will also be writing to Rachel Reeves to raise these issues and the curb on growth that they will cause. We will share with you both those letters in our update next week.