Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 March 2019
509. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of carcasses graded by a given machine between when it was discovered to be working out of synchronicity and the last time it was inspected by a Department official (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12368/19]
View answerThe number of inspections conducted by my Department in slaughterhouses far exceeds the legal requirement as set down in regulation and is consistent with inspection controls applied in other Member States. The Divisional Annual control plan operated by Beef Carcase Classification section of my Department requires officers to conduct, where possible, a factory inspection every 2 weeks.
In 2017 for the 13 incidences where machines were found to be out of tolerance, the average interval between the inspection by my officials and a previous Department inspection when the machine was operating within tolerance, was 9 production days.
In 2018, for the 7 incidences, this average interval between these 2 dates was 8 production days. The exact day within each period that the machines went out of tolerance is not possible to determine. At each production day in the factories concerned, the average number of carcases classified was 342 in 2017 and 303 in 2018.
