Meat hygiene campaign
Every piece of British meat you buy has been checked by a meat hygiene inspector to make sure it is safe. Meat hygiene inspectors are independent civil servants – UNISON members - who check each carcass in every abattoir to make sure it is not diseased and there is no contamination on it.
But this system, and public health, is under threat.
The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) is trying to change European Law to cut costs and allow self-regulation of abattoirs by the meat industry.
It is committing major resources over a number of years to a Europe-wide campaign for its proposals, which it calls a “risk based, proportionate, targeted and cost effective approach to meat regulation.”
Self-regulation of the financial markets and their meltdown shows the huge risks for public health if self-regulation of the meat industry is brought in.
Some responsibilities have already been passed over the meat industry.
Since 2006. abattoir owners have been responsible for ensuring that cattle are clean and dry before slaughter. However, 40% of inspectors report that between 60% and 100% of carcasses they inspect now have some contamination on them
A recent report by Professor Pennington into the death of a child in Wales in 2005 from e.coli said that we need more rigorous enforcement of regulations to protect public health, not less.
The industry simply can’t be trusted to regulate itself.
But this isn’t a done deal. The European Parliament has to approve changes to regulations, and elections for MEPs are being held on 4 June.
A Europe-wide campaign is being run, so in every EU country trade unionists and the public are asking candidates if they will defend safe meat. We need to do our bit in the UK as well.
UNISON is asking our activists and members to write to your candidates for the EU elections and ask them to defend safe meat.
There is a model letter which you can use or adapt, and all you have to do is to either write to or email the candidates in your region.
The model letter and a list of candidates and their contact details can be downloaded.
Candidates - Word
Model letter - Word
