A reduction in the number of official hygiene inspections for dairy farms is a positive move, the NFU has said.
The Food Standards Agency is making the changes for dairy farms in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The aim is to make the system more proportionate to the food safety risks.
Dairy farms supplying milk for pasteurisation will receive a routine official inspection every two years. For members of the Red Tractor Dairy Farm scheme, official inspections will be every ten years.
NFU dairy board member Russell Bowman also sits on the Red Tractor Assurance Dairy Board.
“The NFU has long called for the lower risk status of dairy farms in assurance schemes to be recognised by reducing the frequency of official inspections”, he said. “We are pleased the FSA has offered a sensible proposal to reduce that burden. This will make a huge difference to dairy farmers, who have long complained about the duplication, bureaucracy, cost and time associated with inspections.
“Dairy farmers take their responsibilities to produce safe milk in hygienic conditions very seriously and this move to a more risk-based approach recognises the high standards already being achieved on British dairy farms.”
Mike Madders, Chairman of the Red Tractor Dairy Farm Scheme, said: “For assured dairy producers, the reduced inspection burden is an appropriate acknowledgement of the good hygiene standards that are being maintained by our members every day.”
The changes took effect on Friday and will lead to a reduction in official inspections in England and Wales from more than 11,000 to about 3,000 per year. In Northern Ireland there will be a reduction from 4,500 to 3,200 inspections per year. Get more information here.
- Helen Banham - 06/07/2011
Why do we need the dairy inspector every 10 years when the ADS should be good enough and this will be audited by a third party. How will food become any safer with a dairy inspection evry ten years?