Inefficiency and high FSA charges damage UK competitiveness
At the FSA Board meeting this week it was unanimously agreed to work towards removing the discount on Official Veterinarian charges for large abattoirs but continue support for small, and some medium sized ones. While this still has to go to the Minister, he is unlikely to go against a unanimous decision by the FSA Board.
This 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 of controls.
The Chair, Susan Jebb, gave assurances that it would not be a question of taking money away from large abattoirs to give to smaller abattoirs, and that the money saved by not applying the discount would go into the main FSA funds.
We have previously 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. BMPA wrote to the Food Standards Agency earlier this year 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 will be monitoring discussions to make sure they don’t create unfair competition with how they define a small abattoir, and also that dual standards don’t start to apply. BMPA will also be pushing hard to ensure that, if a discount is given to an abattoir, that plant must be able to demonstrate a good record of compliance. This is important, because it's the large abattoirs that have the best compliance systems in place and the best record of regulatory compliance. Their major retail clients demand no less. And this is why the FSA decision on the discount will effectively penalise good practice.
It is possible this will be implemented for 2026-7 although there was some push to not implement it until 2027-8. We'll keep you appraised. Bethan Grylls at Food Manufacture has a write-up of proceedings.