Title: DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES (DAFF) PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE BRIEFING: PROPOSAL FOR MEAT INSPECTION IN SOUTH AFRICA
1DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES
(DAFF) PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE BRIEFING PROPOSAL
FOR MEAT INSPECTION IN SOUTH AFRICA
Dr Tembile Songabe BVMch (Medunsa),
MSc(Path)(Utrecht) Director Veterinary Public
Health Agricultural production, health and food
safety 26 February 2013
2Background on Meat Inspection Service in SA
- 1967 Animal Slaughter, Meat and Animal Products
Hygiene Act, 1967 (Act 87 of 1967) - The Act required Meat Inspection Service to be
provided exclusively by government (Department of
Agriculture) and various Municipal spheres of
Government - 1992 Abattoir Hygiene Act, 1992 (Act 121 of
1992) - The Act made a revolutionary change by
privatising Meat Inspection Service. - Abattoir owners were required to employ their own
meat inspection staff - A number of government employed officials
responsible for Meat Inspection Service were made
redundant and had to join the employ of private
abattoirs - Meat Hygiene Directorate of the Department, and
various structures previously responsible for
monitoring meat safety were effectively
dismantled
3Background on Meat Inspection Service in SA
- 2000 Meat Safety Act, 2000 (Act No 40 of 2000)
- The Act made a Meat Inspection Service to be
rendered independently from the abattoir. - As such, the Act required the abattoir to
procure Meat Inspection Service. Effectively,
the Act meant that abattoirs cannot perform their
own meat inspection - The Act also stipulated from whom the Meat
Inspection Services must be procured from, i.e.
Meat Inspection Service can only be rendered by
the National Executive Officer, a Provincial
Executive Officer, an Authorised Person or an
assignee. - The Act also outlined the processes for the NEO
to delegate and assign certain powers and duties
to such an Authorised Person. - The Act also clearly outlined the process for the
designation of such assignees. - The Act made it the responsibility of The
Minister to designate National Executive Officer
and MECs to designate Provincial Executive
Officers (PEOs). - In summary, the Act returned the control of Meat
Inspection Service back to The Minister.
4Independence of Meat Inspection
- The abattoir owner must procure meat inspection
service (section 11(1)(b), and that meat
inspection function must be performed
independently of the abattoir (section 11(1)(c),
and meat inspection may only be performed by - National Executive Officer (NEO) National
Department (DAFF) - Provincial Executive Officer (PEO) Provincial
Departments (PDAs) - Assignee (Single/Multiple) established in terms
of section 4 of the Act - Authorized person
- The industry proposal seemed to suggest that only
an assignee must render meat inspection this is
devoid of substance and truth, and is most
regrettable - The major weakness in the Meat Safety Act was the
failure to define independency that was
contemplated this left a vacuum for wide range
of interpretations - World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)
describes technical independence as - To exercise a profession with due diligence,
ethically and impartially, and free from any
financial, hierarchical, political, or otherwise
pressures
5Current Meat Inspection Service in SA
- Poultry Waiver of independence from meat
inspection in-house meat inspection services - In limited areas, the service is offered by PEOs
(PDAs) - Until recently, NEO (DAFF) was also involved in
few abattoirs - Majority of meat inspection is offered by
various private service providers, ranging from
one person to big companies - These private entities employ Meat Inspectors,
and deploy such Meat Inspectors to abattoirs that
have procured Meat Inspection Service from them. - Abattoirs pay the private entity, and in-turn the
private entity pays the salary of the individual
Meat Inspector, a system similar to
labour-brokers
6Current Meat Inspection Service in SA
challenges
- Meat Inspection personnel are at the abattoirs
FULL-TIME, and they oversee, approve and stamp
each carcass - Although government visit abattoirs at regular
intervals there is NO full-time presence of
government official at all times - Other than concerns over labour practices, the
current system should be working very well if it
was not being sabotaged by devious abattoir
owners - There are reports and evidence of some abattoirs
putting pressure on meat inspectors (authorised
persons) to pass products of questionable and/or
poor quality
7Current Meat Inspection Service in SA Problem
Statement/ challenges
- Poor remuneration of meat inspection personnel
Lack of job stability Inexperienced personnel
Possible poor decision making Compromise to
meat safety - Current meat inspection costing not affordable
to small volume abattoirs - Meat inspection not standardized across the
country - Government capacity to provide oversight is
limited in certain Provinces due to human
resource capacity and financial resource
challenges - Different approaches by government to enforce
existing legislation (norms and standards) - Poor understanding of matters of meat safety by
Senior Management and Senior Politicians in
certain Provinces, hence poor resource allocation
8Key pronunciations
- The intergovernmental consultative process made
the following pronunciations - Meat Inspection Service is an important function
that guarantees the safety of meat to the
consumer. - In South Africa, Meat Inspection Service was for
a long time a function of government. Just prior
to 1994, this function was taken away from
government and privatised - Government Veterinary
Public Health (Food Hygiene) structures were
effectively dismantled. Meat Inspection personnel
employed by government at a time were made
redundant and were made to be employed by the
private sector. - There has been a dismal failure by the private
sector to effectively perform Meat Inspection
Service independently, hence the present
discussions and current challenges. Presently,
the bulk of Meat Inspection service is still
performed by the private sector it is clear that
the private sector is still failing the consumers
in as far as technical independence.
9Key pronunciations
- The present privatised system would work
perfectly well if the INDUSTRY did not interfere
with the technical independency of the Meat
Inspectors on the ground. - From the recommendations of the first
consultative process, it can be deduced that the
industry wanted to maintain the status quo
through their Independent Meat Inspection (IMI)
proposal of a single industry approved assignee
to conduct meat inspection at all abattoirs in
the country. - The industry created/ proposed/ endorsed assignee
would still be industry/ privately-owned, and
would be no different from the current system,
and would be prone to same challenges that
currently exist ie- tempering with technical
independency of the Meat Inspector or National
Executive Officer. -
- Given the dismal failure by the private sector to
render such services in a technically independent
and impartial manner, a decision to remove these
services from government is considered not to
have been well thought and ill-advised.
10Key pronunciations
- Final proposal
- As such, a capacity shall be re-established
within government to render and manage meat
inspection services. Rendering of such service
shall still be subjected to cost recovery as
envisaged in section 11(1)(b), i.e. Abattoir
owner must procure these services. - However, due to the required financial and human
resource planning, such capacity shall be
developed in phases over a period of time.
11THANK YOU