Vol. 536 No. 3
79 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the number of business operations where HACCP has been implemented; the number of audits which have been carried out; the number of non-compliances which have been reported; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14071/01]
The food safety inspection regime operated by my Department is carried out under the EU and national legislation applicable to the sector in question. The service is operated under contract to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.
As regards the milk sector, the regime required in milk processing establishments under the provisions of Statutory Instrument No. 9 of 1996, is not a formal HACCP system.
In practice, however, most establishments – and certainly all of the larger ones – have implemented a formal HACCP. All milk processing establishments are inspected at regular intervals by my Department, based on risk assessment and in accordance with the terms of the FSAI contract. During 2000 a total of 743 inspections were carried out. Some six major and 357 minor non-compliances were identified. It is not the practice to categorise non-compliances as between those involving the HACCP and those involving other aspects of the establishment's operations.
In relation to the meat sector, the HACCP system applies in the meat products, minced meat and meat preparations plants. The inspection system in the export approved abattoirs under the control of my Department is based on permanent presence of veterinary inspectors employed directly or contracted to my Department, backed up by Department technical officers. The overall number of meat plants which apply HACCP comes to 72. In these plants, the number of non-compliance incidents during 2000 came to 185 in all. These were assessed on the basis of risk assessment and varied from minor incidents where timeframes for corrective action were given by the inspecting veterinary officer to more serious matters which resulted in total suspension or closure of certain parts of the plant for whatever period was required to put the matter right.
