Food Law News - UK - 2005


FSA News Item, 27 June 2005

MEAT HYGIENE - Review of MHS Management System following Wall Report recommendations

Risk management consultancy firm DNV was asked to conduct a review of the management system in place within the MHS, with particular reference to the potential reintroduction of Over Thirty Months (OTM) Scheme animals in the food chain. Links to both the DNV review and the joint MHS/FSA response to its recommendations are available on the FSA web site.

Background

During an internal audit of the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) a number of failures were identified in connection with the need to test all relevant 24-30 month old casualty animals for BSE (Schedule 18 and 19 animals). As a result an independent inquiry was commissioned and was conducted by a group headed by Professor Patrick Wall with the remit to address issues that led to the testing failures. The report Inquiry into the failure to comply with the requirements to test all 24-30 month old casualty animals for BSE (the Wall Report) made a number of recommendations for change in order to ensure that the measures were put in place to ensure that similar difficulties would not recur.

Since a number of these recommendations referred to management and communication issues associated with the MHS and its stakeholders, DNV Consulting were asked to conduct a review of the management system in place within the MHS, with particular reference to the potential reintroduction of the Over Thirty Month Scheme animals into the food chain. A separate study is currently underway, chaired by Professor Wall, to address issues associated with the identification and testing of such animals.


To go to main Foodlaw-Reading Index page, click here.