SCOTLAND-THE SOTTISH ASSOCIATION OF MEAT WHOLESALERS.
I REGARD Saturday as the one day when all thoughts of work can be banished and attention focused on the sporting world. However, that was not the case last Saturday when duty called at the annual conference of the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers in Edinburgh. It was a well-organised event that provoked much food for thought.
Ever since the debacle of BSE in 1996, the processing sector has been burdened by rules, regulations and associated costs many in the industry believe are not strictly necessary. No-one disputes that public health and consumer confidence must rem
ain paramount, but there is growing feeling that the rules and costs on implementation are disproportionate to the risks involved.
Allan Jess, president of SAMW, made that clear in his opening address, when he lambasted the Food Standards Agency and its offshoot, the Meat Hygiene Service. "Our view is clear: the FSA and MHS are not fit for purpose in Scotland and not worth the huge amount of industry and taxpayer’s money which supports them," he said.
"In the longer term, we may need to pursue other alternatives. Meanwhile, we do not accept we should be paying more for an antiquated, over-manned, inefficient inspection service before it is sorted out."
The background to this is that last week the FSA decreed its inspection charges must increase by 4 per cent. This comes at a time when margins in the processing sector are exceedingly slender, not to mention that the rate of inflation is close to zero.
Jess said: "To hear some of the FSA board say there was plenty of money in the sector, and that the increase should have been greater, is simply beyond belief. Such people have no understanding of the sector and seem to make no effort to gain any understanding."
That went down well with the delegates, as did a speech by Richard Lochhead, the Cabinet secretary for rural affairs. He pointed out the red meat sector accounts for 31 per cent of total Scottish agricultural output – far higher in comparison with the rest of the UK.
Lochhead also reminded his audience that 25,000 people are directly employed on farms and in primary processing. In addition, meat processors add over £200 million in added value to Scotland’s primary production. Politicians frequently have to be evasive in their answers, but Lochhead made it clear that he is of a mind to veto the 4 per cent increase on inspection fees.
This issue has to be approved by all of the devolved regions and nations as well as Defra (department of the environment, food and rural affairs) in London. Doubtless, Defra will give the rise the green light, but if Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland decide otherwise, the FSA will have a mighty problem. Devolution is not without power.
Tim Smith, the FSA chief executive, looked somewhat ill at ease as he listened, knowing he faced a difficult task in arguing his case with the leaders of the processing sector. He tried hard and spent time explaining how costs were being trimmed out of his organisation and how staff numbers had been reduced and would be cut still further.
UNTIL relatively recently the MHS had 2,000 employees, but that has be trimmed to 1,600 with further redundancies planned. Smith also aims to cut costs of £91 million a year by £30m. That should have happened before now. I almost, but not quite, felt some sympathy for Smith, who picked up poisoned chalice when he came to this job a year ago.
The concluding speaker was Brian Pack, chief executive of the ANM Group. As he said, he will be a "free man" come Thursday when he steps down after 19 years at the helm of ANM.
Among his regrets is the fact that the red meat industry has been saddled with a huge burden of additional costs over the past 15 years. It is time, said Pack, to commission a multi-disciplinary team to look at what the risks from BSE to humans really are and regulate accordingly.
The scare theories propagated by Professor Lacey in the 1990s suggesting that millions would die from variant CJD have not been borne out and there is considerable scope for amending meat inspection rules.
Pack said: "I do wonder if the time is not right for some civil disobedience in that the industry should decide what it is willing to pay, and refuse to pay any more – and let’s have the battle."
