Unannounced inspections of beef and sheep farms will not become part of the NI beef and lamb farm quality assurance scheme (NIBL FQAS), local industry representatives have agreed.

Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) chief executive Ian Stevenson said that the FQAS board and standards committee have decided that unannounced audits will not add value to “what is already an extremely robust certification and inspection process”.

Participants are currently subject to routine inspections once every 18 months and additional checks on up to 10% of approved producers are also carried out each year.

The NIBL FQAS board and standards committee is made up of representatives from local farmer organisations and meat processors.

Both groups have agreed that NIBL FQAS will not follow the Red Tractor scheme in England by introducing unannounced inspections on farmers that have significant non-conformances in a routine audit.

“We are not developing plans to introduce these into NIBL FQAS at this time,” Stevenson confirmed.

The benefit of having an independently owned beef and lamb assurance scheme is that scheme affairs are managed locally

Unannounced inspections are set to be introduced for the Red Tractor beef and lamb quality assurance scheme in England later this year. Although NIBL FQAS operates independently from the English scheme, there is mutual recognition of standards and certification which allow NI beef and lamb to be labelled as Red Tractor in the premium British retail market.

In the past, the NI scheme has generally followed changes made to the Red Tractor standard.

However, with most beef and sheep farmers also working off-farm, the ability of an inspector to arrive for an unannounced audit when farmers are present would prove difficult.

“The benefit of having an independently owned beef and lamb assurance scheme is that scheme affairs are managed locally, and decisions can be made that reflect supply chain requirements in NI,” Stevenson said.

Dairy, pigs and poultry farmers can become eligible for an unannounced inspection

Quality assurance schemes for dairy, pigs and poultry operate UK-wide, and the introduction of unannounced Red Tractor inspections in these sectors includes NI farms.

Dairy, pigs and poultry farmers can become eligible for an unannounced inspection if during a routine audit they are found to have a significant number of non-conformances, or have non-conformances that are deemed to pose a reputational risk to Red Tractor.