Brussels, 30/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - The management of French poultry slaughterhouses leaves much to be desired - there are shortcomings, a lack of hygiene and non-compliance with European regulations. This is what is revealed by a report from the European Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) which was put on the website of the European Commission on Wednesday 29 January.
The previous audit of the poultry sector in France was conducted in 2008 and threw light on non-compliance at the level of ante-mortem and post-mortem inspections. In the latest audit, carried out in June 2013, the FVO states that “although since the last poultry meat sector audit to France in 2008 some improvement was noted by the audit team, there are still serious deficiencies in ante- and post-mortem inspection”. The FVO report also concludes that the effectiveness of the system of official controls is “compromised by numerous deficiencies” - particularly as regards animal welfare conditions at the time of slaughter.
The FVO notes that the inspections that were carried out “are still far from compliant with EU requirements”. It underlines that these inspections are carried out “at slaughterhouse level by the food business operator staff” and not “by an official veterinarian as required under EU legislation”.
The presence of a veterinarian and official auxiliaries in poultry slaughterhouses depends on the volume of production. Only the largest slaughterhouses with more than 30,000 tonnes of meat produced per year are subject to permanent supervision by an official veterinarian and official auxiliaries. However, the FVO notes that “in neither of two large slaughterhouses visited” was the official veterinarian permanently present on-site during slaughter. On some sites, the official veterinarian was only “on site 1-2 days per week”.
In addition to these shortcomings in control, the European audit team revealed deficiencies in hygiene - both at the level of surfaces (floors and ceilings) and in practices (including fresh meat and cardboard boxes being handled by the same operative during packing, dusty fittings above exposed poultry meat, excessive temperatures and insufficient cleaning of knives). (LC/transl.fl)