The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has announced that its board has agreed the future approach to working with the industry on delivering meat official controls.
The board members recommended that the agency's existing programme should work closely with the European Commission on proposals to reform meat official controls, and emphasized the importance of this work to ensure a more risk-based and fair system.
The key actions recommended by the board were: FSA should prioritize consumer protection; it should pursue a more collaborative approach with stakeholders; and current discount system should be reviewed to remove anomalies.
In addition, it should work to identify further ways to reduce costs; explore with industry the options for alternative delivery models; carry out an external efficiency review of the delivery of meat official controls.
The board also recommended that discussions should continue with other government departments regarding taking on responsibility for any ongoing subsidy.
