MLC urges better meat hygiene

10 February 1998

MLC urges better meat hygiene

By FWi staff

ABATTOIRS and butchers must improve their food safety standards for red meat, MPs attending the Commons Committee for Agriculture were told today.

Colin Maclean, director general of the Meat and Livestock Commission, said better meat hygiene standards were needed to bolster consumer confidence in British food.

“The meat chain must continue to improve its performance, with greater emphasis on clean cattle, better risk analysis at abattoirs and improved retail training,” he said.

Mr Maclean urged MPs to consider the introduction of special food safety training for abattoir workers along similar lines to that currently received by butchers.

“The attitudes of those involved in the industry must change so that hygiene relies not on enforcement by local authorities and the Meat and Hygiene Commission, but upon standards adhered to on a systematic basis by all,” he added.