Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 March 2022
863. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if abattoirs are operated by local butchers classified differently to commercial meat plants; if so, the number that are registered with his Department; the number of animals that were slaughtered on these premises in the past three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11634/22]
View answerThe European Union (Food and Feed Hygiene) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 22 of 2020), which give further effect in Ireland to the European food hygiene regulations (“the Hygiene Package”), provide the method by which meat processing establishments, including slaughtering establishments, can apply for approval to operate.
The regulations also provide the demarcation limits for supervision in terms of volume of throughput. A food business operator that wishes to operate a food business engaged in slaughter;
- where no more than 100 livestock units are slaughtered in any week with a maximum of 5,000 livestock units slaughtered in a calendar year;
- a food business engaged in the slaughter of poultry where no more than 3,000 birds are slaughtered in any week with a maximum of 150,000 birds slaughtered in a calendar year;
- a food business engaged in the slaughter of lagomorphs where no more than 3,000 lagomorphs are slaughtered in any week with a maximum of 150,000 lagomorphs slaughtered in a calendar year.
Should apply to the local authority in whose functional area the business is situate for approval. Where the volume of throughput is greater than these amounts, the application should be made to my Department.
On receipt of an application for approval, the appropriate competent authority will arrange for and carry out an approval inspection to ensure that the establishment meets all of the requirements of the regulations. Amongst the areas that must be satisfactory are the establishment’s food safety management system (it must meet the requirements of hazard analysis), structures, provision for welfare of animals and staff with a level of training and skills to correctly carry out all aspects of slaughtering and dressing. Once approval is granted by my Department or by a local authority, slaughtering may only take place under veterinary supervision.
The Department currently has supervisory authority for 50 such approved slaughter establishments, a full list of which can be found on my Department's website at:
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/foodsafetyconsumerissues/dafmapprovedestablishments.
There are 87 approved slaughter establishments under local authority supervision, a full list of which can be found on the FSAI’s website at:
www.fsai.ie/food_businesses/approved_food_establishments.html.
The table below sets out the total numbers of cattle, sheep and pigs presented for slaughter in approved establishments under the supervision of local authorities. This data has been extracted from the Department's Animal Identification and Movement system in respect of 2019, 2020 and 2021:
|
- |
Animals Presented for Slaughter – Local Authority Supervised Slaughter Establishments |
||
|
|
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
|
Cattle |
106,861 |
96,116 |
104,905 |
|
Sheep |
230,764 |
242,441 |
244,353 |
|
Pigs |
51,045 |
51,713 |
68,092 |
