Annex B
ROLE OF
MEAT HYGIENE
SERVICE
Background and status
1. The Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) took over
meat inspection duties from some 300 local authorities in England,
Wales and Scotland on 1 April 1995, when it was newly established
as an Executive Agency of the then Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries
and Food. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
provides a similar service in Northern Ireland. Responsibility
for the MHS passed to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) when the
Agency was established on 1 April 2000.
Mission statement
2. The Mission Statement of the MHS is to
be an open and independent service dedicated to the protection
of public health and animal welfare by improving the quality of
its services and standards in licensed meat plants in Great Britain.
Aim of the MHS
4. The MHS aims to safeguard public health
and animal welfare through fair, consistent and effective enforcement
of hygiene, inspection and welfare regulations in GB.
Functions
5. The main functions of the MHS, discharged
on behalf of the FSA, are:
— The enforcement of hygiene legislation
in licensed fresh meat premises.
— The provision of meat inspection
and controls on health marking in licensed red meat, poultry meat
and wild game meat premises.
— The enforcement of hygiene controls
in meat products, minced meat and meat preparation plants that
are co-located with licensed slaughterhouses.
— The enforcement, in licensed fresh
meat premises, of controls over Specified Risk Material (SRM)
and other animal by-products, and controls prohibiting the sale
of meat for human consumption from cattle over 30 months of age.
6. The MHS also undertakes work under Service
Level Agreements for Defra; the National Assembly for Wales Agriculture
and Rural Affairs Department; and the Scottish Executive Environment
and Rural Affairs Department. It also discharges the responsibilities
of the Rural Payments Agency in supervising the implementation
of the Over Thirty Month Scheme, and collects and dispatches samples
for testing on behalf of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate.
Organisation
7. The MHS operates through a headquarters
in York, and five Regional Offices—North (also based in
York); Central (based in Wolverhampton); South & West (based
in Taunton); Wales (based in Cardiff), and Scotland (based in
Edinburgh).
Staff
8. The MHS directly employs about 1,600
staff, of which approximately 90% are operational, based at around
1500 licensed premises throughout Great Britain. The MHS also
contracts for the services of approximately 600-700 full and part-time
Official Veterinary Surgeons (OVSs) with around 110 contractors
/ veterinary practices to work in licensed premises, depending
upon industry demand.
9. MHS operational staff comprise OVSs,
Senior Poultry/Meat Hygiene Inspectors, Poultry/Meat Hygiene Inspectors
and Meat Technicians. The MHS has a statutory duty to provide
meat inspection services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, if a
plant operator has given the requisite period of notice of requirements.
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