Unison opposes privatisation of MHS services
The Food Standards Agency Board has been urged by the Unison union not to choose privatisation of services provided by the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) when it meets in Cardiff on Thursday to consider its future.
Unison, representing MHS members, is supporting an alternative option under which a transformed MHS stays within public hands and receives new investment to enable it provide an improved services.
Unison national officer for meat inspectors Ben Priestley said privatisation is a “recipe for disaster”. He added: “Private companies acting in competition with one another are hardly in the best position to deliver public health because they are ultimately driven by making a profit, rather than prioritising public safety.”
Most abattoirs and primary meat processing operators recognise that reform of the MHS is needed. But concerns have been expressed that safety standards should not be diluted and neither should industry have to shoulder the £31M costs of providing the service.
Last year Unison conducted a confidential survey of its 1,000-plus MHS members, showing that 92% did not believe introducing hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) procedures had improved the level of faecal contamination for carcases presented for inspection.
Unison claimed that 53% of meat plants employed trimmers to remove faecal contamination prior to inspection. Half the abattoirs using trimmers still regularly presented between 40-100% of carcases for official inspection with visible faecal contamination, said Unison. And 64% of meat inspectors were still unofficially expected to trim faecal contamination off carcases at the inspection point, it said.
