Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I do not know the exact numbers, but I can check if necessary. I presume some of the departmental officers involved in the work also have other duties.

There is also an EU inspection process. After the last inspection that took place, the conclusion of the EU audit team was that the standard of classification was very good for both conformation and fat cover.

We conduct regular unannounced visits to plants. In 2009, for example, a total of 45,266 carcases were checked in the course of 472 control visits. As a Department we also publish an annual report detailing carcase classification statistics; this information is available on the Department's website. From the Department's point of view, at official level, we are very active.

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