Vol. 539 No. 1
28 Mr. J. Brady asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the degree of progress which has been made in the mechanised beef grading trials which have been under way for some time; the level of accuracy which is being achieved; when such methods are likely to get EU approval; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18487/01]
Mechanical grading trials were carried out in Ireland in August 1999 and March 2000 and the results were communicated to the EU Commission in March 2000. Similar trials were also carried out in Germany, Denmark and France. These trials were the subject of discussion at beef management committee meetings in March and April 2000.
The consensus of opinion was that the trials in Ireland had been carried out in a highly professional manner. While the three machines involved achieved high accuracy results in relation to conformation and meat content of the carcases, they were less accurate in relation to fatness and, in general, they failed to attain the standards set down by the EU Commission in a draft regulation setting standards to be met by these machines prior to their approval for classification purposes. Following discussion in the beef management committee, the Commission agreed to carry out a pilot test to examine whether the standards and procedures set out in the draft regulation were practicable.
