Animal Health and Welfare Stakeholder Meeting

Sheila Voas chaired meeting of around 30 industry and government agencies representatives.

Scottish Government has undertaken a review following Operation Silver Birch (FMD Outbreak Contingency planning).
Four work streams had been identified:-
Vaccination to live – industry keen to reduce the number of animals slaughtered in case of FMD. Delivery of this is in a discussion paper to be issued subsequent to the Stakeholder meeting.
Movement Licenses – defining movements allowed including those to kill and milking cows crossing roads for example.
Access to the countryside – amendment to law to allow paths to be closed.
Disposal of carcasses from infected premises – industry concerned about potential to spread the disease. This will depend on the size if the problems.

Transport of animals
Issue raised by Nigel Miller. Regulations do not fit with markets and splitting times between entry and exit. Problem includes that of drivers hours within Working Time Directive. If responsible for welfare of animals that counts even though they are not travelling. Defra involved since regs do not allow for markets so suggestion to class markets as assembly centres. Ideas are invited from auctioneers but still fairly currently unsatisfactory because it does not comply with FVO requirements.
Could try to encourage FVO that in UK there is no market to market transportation. Apparently FVOs had no evidence of any compliance in EU.

Exit strategy for cattle where registration details have been lost. This can happen through illness, death or mismanagement. Given distance away from BSE there should be better ways of managing this other than animals ending up in a skip. SG were not aware of any case of compulsory slaughtering Scotland actually happening. NFUS instanced cases in North East. Cattle without records are allowed to be used for breeding but cannot enter the food chain. Argued that this was silly. In food safety terms these animals could be used. TSE regulations would need to be changed. This is not within the remit of Animal Health and Welfare but clearly tests can be done at a cost to satisfy consumer safety.

TB Testing in Scotland
Assurances required to industry that audits are being carried out effectively. Unannounced audits will involve over 300 official vets in Scotland over the next two years. This is all about maintaining TB free status.
Testing in Scotland had revealed three breakdowns in 2013. One was a cow brought in from Shropshire for slaughter and two cows from Republic of Ireland.

BVD eradication scheme
Mandatory screening has 92% compliance. Data suggests 20% of herds showing exposure, in 2009 was 40%. Geographical variation with presence greater in South West than North East. Rate in beef herds coming down but dairy staying the same. Phase three later this year positives will only be to slaughter.

Surveillance Report
Data from 8 vet labs from throughout Scotland.
Cattle – BVD type 2 virus emerging in veal calves in Holland and Germany. No evidence of it being imported into U K and the risk is perceived as low. Incidences of other diseases such as Bovine Neonatal Panctopenia (BNP) were reported none with any direct consequences on meat industry.
Sheep – this year's lamb crop is thought to be down by 8% due to bad winter with poor lambing percentages and increased ewe mortality rates.
Pigs – African Swine Fever is affecting Belarus and Russia. Risk of spreading in EU and China and damage to world market for pork. Swine influenza disease is a bigger concern in UK.
Avians – HN7 flu is a concern in Italy.

Meeting closed at 12:20

Should we have a debriefing meeting of exhibitors at the 2013 Meat Trade Fair?

Hi Brindon

I have been reading through the debriefing notes from previous Smithfield Awards. The comments made on judging sheets have in the past upset members and caused some not to enter.

Other than those entering new products as a speculative punt using the judges as guinea pigs, this is not an unexpected response since most members consider they make a first class product. Many products can be excellent local sellers but do not appeal to the judges. This creates great disappointment and in some cases obviously great anger and alienation.

To safeguard against appeals I propose that all awards given no award at the first judging are re – judged and both judging sheets kept if the answer is no award in both cases.

I note that previous evaluations have been examined to determine the percentage of entries achieving Gold. This has been around 42%. When I was first involved in the judging of the Smithfield Awards in Perth I recall products winning golds that were not good and not doing the credibility of the evaluation or Guild any good. Judges had to use pencils obviously so that marks could be upgraded to achieve a higher number of awards.

This goes against the intentions of the judges who mark down products deliberately to take the award status into Silver, Bronze or no awards. The practice really makes a mockery of the evaluation.

Is it your desire to achieve a 40% gold standard irrespective if the judges decide that the number of golds are less than this? In other words do we still use pencils and rework results to achieve desired rate of passes? Since you need to attract members to the Awards Luncheon I can see the attraction in ensuring a set level of Golds but this is not the way SFMTA run their evaluations (in the recent a traditional steak pie only fifteen golds were given out of entry of 75).

The 40% target is dependant on members submitting their best products and the same quality producers entering products. Your guidance would be appreciated.