§ Mr. LuffTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has made an assessment of the hygiene standards in red meat slaughterhouses in England and Wales.
§ Mrs. BrowningSince early 1994 we have been operating the hygiene assessment system in red meat slaughterhouses. The HAS is the method developed and used by the state veterinary service to assess and monitor hygiene standards in slaughterhouses. HAS looks at specific aspects of performance within five main categories—ante-mortem, slaughter and dressing, 625W personnel and practices, maintenance and hygiene of premises and general conditions and management. Each category is scored according to the standards observed on the day, and the scores are weighted to reflect the importance of each category to the overall hygiene of
Numbers by type of slaughterhouse Score bands All types Fully approved Low throughput1 Temporarily derogated2 21–30 3 0 0 3 31–40 19 1 1 17 41–50 90 4 3 82 51–60 103 15 11 77 61–70 84 17 11 56 71–80 50 25 4 20 81–90 23 15 3 5 91–100 4 3 1 0 1 Licensed slaughterhouses with a throughput of no more than 20 livestock units per week. 2 These plants have until the end of 1995 at the latest to complete their work plans to meet the structural requirements of the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1992.