Hopes rest on fast rule changes for desperate abattoirs
A beleaguered abattoir sector, seeking regulatory reform to ease costs and burdensome paperwork, is optimistic following government crisis talks last week.
Independent abattoir owners facing a maelstrom of bureaucracy, exorbitant electricity bills and labour shortages called on Defra minister Mark Spencer to tailor regulations for smaller abattoirs.
One frustrated abattoir owner and farmer told Farmers Weekly that guidance from different vets was becoming contradictory.
Suggestions had included placing cameras in fields to monitor livestock, deliberating over rodents entering through cracks in door frames as wide as a 10p coin, and counting flies in fly killers.
“They seem more bothered with animal welfare than food standards,” the source said. “Dead flies are not a problem, and cameras won’t work in fields at night or in fog.”
Michael Priestley / Farmers Weekly
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