PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Slaughterhouses: Inspections (23 November 2017)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department take to ensure that businesses that receive animal products from premises that have received an unsatisfactory Food Standards Agency audit result are (a) aware of that audit result and (b) protected against potential food safety risks.

Asked by:
Kerry McCarthy (Labour)

Audit reports are issued to the Food Business Operator, the Official Veterinarian, and Food Standard Agency (FSA) officials responsible for each establishment within 10 days of the audit taking place.

The overall outcomes are provided as ‘Good’, ‘Generally Satisfactory’, ‘Improvement Necessary’ or ‘Urgent Improvement Necessary’.

The outcomes of the audits conducted by the FSA are then published on its website:

https://www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/meat/audit

Audit results are published each month as part of the FSA transparency commitment.

The role of the auditor is to assess that establishments are operating in accordance with its Food Safety Management System, Food Safety Standards and has met the requirements of the Regulations.

Where it is identified that the food business is not fully meeting these requirements, the Food Business Operator and FSA officials for this establishment will be informed of the deficiencies identified during the closing meeting immediately after the audit and a formal Non-Compliance Report will be issued with the audit report.

The outcome of these audits will determine the audit frequency so any establishment which has the outcome ‘Improvement Necessary’ or ‘Urgent Improvement Necessary’ will receive increased audits and may also be subject to further unannounced inspections.

It is the role of the FSA to keep the approval granted to establishments under review. If the audit outcome does not improve, and the FSA is concerned that the manner in which a food business is operating is such that it poses an imminent risk to the public the meat can be detained and the business closed until remedial action is taken to resolve the issue.

Ultimately, if the FSA no longer has confidence in the ability of the food business to meet the required standards it may withdraw its approval. Four establishments have had their approval withdrawn by the FSA in the last 12 months.

Answered by:
Steve Brine (Conservative)
30 November 2017