Health fears over self-test abattoirs

Outside vets would no longer carry out the inspections

Meat inspectors and unions have accused the government of putting public health at risk with plans to change the way slaughterhouses are supervised.

The Food Standards Agency is considering a European Commission plan to let some abattoirs organise their own inspections instead of bringing in outside vets.

The agency insists no changes would be made that would worsen standards.

Only slaughterhouses with what officials call a "good track record" would be allowed to carry out their own inspections under the plan.

The public service union, Unison, says the plan amounts to privatisation and will mean a drop in hygiene standards.

It is planning to launch a campaign to urge MPs to oppose the idea.

The Association of Meat Inspectors shares Unison's view, saying the slaughter companies have long felt the cost of inspections was too high.

Leaving the inspections to them, it argues, would lower standards.

The association also believes the changes are being considered "quietly" by government without enough public debate.

BSE crisis

High standards in UK slaughterhouses are of particular concern following the BSE crisis.

More than 170,000 cattle have been diagnosed with BSE in the UK, compared to around 1,400 in other European countries such as France, the Irish Republic, Portugal and Germany.

Eighty seven British people have died from the brain-wasting Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease.

Scientists believe that just as BSE is likely to have been passed from infected cows through feed contaminated with brains and spinal cord, people can acquire the human variant through cuts of meat which contain this material.

Stringent rules were introduced to stop the "dangerous" parts of cattle, such as the spinal cords and brains, getting into the human food chain.

But the BSE inquiry in 1998 heard that many slaughterhouses and rendering plants - where carcasses are disposed of - ignored laws introduced to prevent the spread of BSE to humans.