Sustain member HUSH has launched a petition to block FSA plans to remove independent inspectors from slaughterhouses.
HUSH, which stands for Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome Help, campaigns on behalf of people affected by E.coli 0157, to raise awareness of this form of food poisoning.
Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome is a serious and sometimes fatal consequence of E.coli infection. It killed six-year-old Joanna Nash, which has led her parents to throw their weight behind a campaign to prevent the Food Standards Agency from changing the way it regulates the meat industry. They -- and HUSH -- think it will increase the likelihood of meat-borne infection.
The Food Standards Agency has a statutory duty to protect public health in relation to food. It is currently reviewing the way it regulates food safety, in a programme known as Regulating our Future. This is intended to make regulation more compatible with food industry practices, and transfer the cost of regulation from taxpayers to business.
One strand will see local authority inspectors, who currently check that all slaughtered meat is fit for human consumption, removed from abattoirs. The FSA argues this is an 'outdated and resource-intensive' way to ensure food is safe'. Instead there will be a risk-based system in which businesses are required to meet standards, with occasional inspection.
HUSH argues that this will have the effect of lowering standards of meat safety. They are supported by another Sustain member, the union Unison, which maintains that meat inspectors are the 'eyes, ears and voice of the consumer' during the meat slaughter and processing.
HUSH's petition urges the FSA to 'stop listening to the meat industry and pandering to their cost saving ideas at the expense of public health'.
Read more about HUSH here, click here for Unison's campaign, and find out more about Sustain's campaigning work for a safer, greener and fairer food system here.
Published Friday 14 October 2016
Sustain: Sustain The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity.
