James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 577: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has sanctioned the employment of people outside his Department to carry out meat inspections in view of the fact that his Department already has 250 technical staff employed and trained to do so; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22573/09]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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My Department engages part-time Temporary Veterinary Inspectors (TVIs), as and when required, to assist the Department's official veterinarians in the performance of ante mortem and post mortem tasks at approved meat processing plants. Other than these professional veterinarians, my Department has not sanctioned the engagement of persons from outside the Department to carry out meat inspection duties.

The technical staff that are referred to by the Deputy, while trained to a level commensurate to carry out all the inspection tasks which they are currently performing, are not fully trained to carry out post-mortem meat inspection except in relation to poultry meat. The Department has assigned some post mortem inspection duties to technical staff working in poultry processing establishments. The food hygiene regulations require that a veterinarian carry out ante mortem inspection of all animals before slaughter.