Teagasc Launches New Pigmeat Safety Plan
Issued 24th January 2002
A blueprint aimed at eliminating safety hazards in pig slaughtering plants has been published by Teagasc.
Compiled by food safety experts at the Teagasc National Food Centre, it is aimed at ensuring consistently high standards across the entire pigmeat processing sector.
Called the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) it outlines the critical safety practices at all stages in the slaughtering process. It is based on the best food safety scientific knowledge available nationally and internationally.
The plan follows on a similar blueprint produced by Teagasc in 2000 for the beef slaughtering sector and which is now being applied across the industry.
Dr Declan Bolton of the Teagasc National Food Centre and one of the authors of the blueprint, said the plan was aimed at ensuring highest food safety practices in an industry which produces products with an annual value of €360m.
''The Irish pigmeat industry is a world leader in safe food production and the image of Irish pigmeat products is becoming the international benchmark in quality and safety. HACCP is widely recognised as the most effective means of maintaining and improving these high standards, by preventing contamination of food with harmful bacteria'', he said.
Dr Bolton said the publication of the new safety blueprint is timely in view of recent changes in food safety legislation which legally mandate HACCP in all meat processing plants throughout the EU.
The new blueprint was written by Dr Bolton and Dr Jim Sheridan of the Teagasc National Food Centre. It involved collaboration with and support from the US/Ireland Co-operation Programme in Agricultural Science and Technology, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and the Irish pigmeat industry.
