In the past, there was a comprehensive system of monitoring undertaken by the FSA and local Trading Standards officers, who would mount regular inspections of restaurants, takeaways, abattoirs, and indeed any form of food processing plant or food supplier.
But that system is in crisis. In 2011, the FSA inspected 2,917 abattoirs and cutting plants. In 2017, it visited just 1,725 — a fall of just over 40 per cent. The FSA says this is because of a cut in funding. If that is indeed the case, then how hollow David Cameron's words seem today.
Anecdotally, I hear FSA inspections are treated almost as a joke by many in the industry.
As soon as inspectors arrive at a meat plant, an anodyne announcement will come over the Tannoy, saying something like, 'A set of keys has been found next to the drinks machine'. This will be a coded instruction for employees swiftly to hide anything untoward.
With fewer and less effective inspections, the FSA is essentially relying on whistleblowers to do its work. It has set up an organisation called the National Food Crime Unit, a new law enforcement agency which was established in the wake of the horse meat scandal. However, its funding appears pitiful, with the FSA board approving a mere £2.1 million for next year. Mail.
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