Royal Welsh plea to Minister to save small abattoirs
The Royal Welsh Agricultural Society has asked the Minister of Rural Affairs, Elin Jones, to reconsider proposals to amend the method of calculating fees for veterinary inspections of abattoirs because the increased costs could drive some of them out of business.
In letters to the Minister, and the Food Standards Agency, the chairman of the Royal Welsh board of management, David Lewis, said the proposals to charge the inspection fees on a per hour, rather than a per animal basis, will be financially crippling for small abattoirs.
“An adjustment must therefore be made to the charging regime to allow them to continue their important service to rural Wales,” says the letter, which points out that the number of animals slaughtered per hour in small abattoirs is considerably lower than in big centralised units. The procedures were equally as efficient and more welfare friendly, but costing veterinary time by the hour would result in a much higher charge per animal in small abattoirs inevitably placing them at considerable financial disadvantage.
In the letter Mr Lewis also says that because of geographic and road infrastructure difficulties, Wales is dependent to a great extent on small abattoirs in rural areas to support local meat suppliers and reduce food miles. Many small operators had also invested heavily in recent years to bring their premises up to first class standards and they were now providing an excellent service for local butchers and consumers. The imposition of additional costs would make them economically unviable and the resultant loss of a vital local service and increased food mileage would be to the detriment of rural Wales.