Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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654. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the checks and oversight carried out by his Department to ensure the mechanical grading systems in the meat processing plants is operated fairly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19031/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Since the introduction of mechanical grading, officials of my Department have carried out regular inspections of meat plants to ensure that each grading machine continues to operate within the performance parameters as laid down in EU legislation.

In 2013 a total of 402 inspections were conducted with over 39,000 carcases checked.

During each inspection, the classification results allocated to beef carcases by the mechanical grading machines are downloaded onto a handheld computer by the Inspector and the performance of the machine is assessed in accordance with the performance criteria laid down in the relevant EU Regulations.

All data concerning machine checks are stored electronically which facilitates accurate and comprehensive monitoring.

The results of checks by Department officials on classification machines show that the machines continue to perform within the performance thresholds laid down in the EU Regulations.