CORE AREA 1 FOOD STUDIES Controlling meat quality in Ireland
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine enforce food safety within the meat sector throughout Ireland. They ensure that meat purchased is fresh, hygienic and free from disease by:
• enforcing European Union legislation regarding the import of foods of animal origin from outside the European Union
• monitoring the use of antibiotics and growth promoters in animal production
• ensuring the maintenance of abattoirs and meat-processing factories throughout Ireland
• testing animals routinely for diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)
• ensuring the identification of livestock and traceability of meat.
Did you know
The United States banned the importation of Irish and European Union beef in 1997 following the BSE outbreak. In 2015, Ireland became the first European Union state to be allowed to start importing beef into the United States again.
Beef and Lamb Quality Assurance Scheme (BLQAS)
If beef or lamb products bear the Bord Bia Quality Mark it tells the consumer that the products are quality assured as they have been produced with the highest level of care and attention from primary production through factory processing. To achieve this, the farmer and the processing plant must be certified members of the Bord Bia Quality Assurance Scheme and work in partnership to provide customers with quality-assured beef and lamb products.
For a farmer to become a member of the Quality Assurance Scheme their farm must be audited by Bord Bia to ensure:
• high standards of animal welfare • accurate records are kept of the origin, sex, age, breed, movement and veterinary treatments of all animals to ensure meat is fully traceable
• farmyards are maintained to a high standard.
For a processing plant to become a member of the Quality Assurance Scheme they must be audited by Bord Bia to ensure:
• slaughter staff demonstrate competence and compassion when handling animals
• the implementation of a cleaning and sanitation programme for the plant, facilities and equipment.
• accurate records are kept on animals to ensure meat is fully traceable.
