Down on the farm

Posted by Andrew Wadge on November 29th 2006 in Out and about

The Agency has always taken a farm-to-fork approach to food safety so I was interested to see the approaches taken at two farms I visited yesterday with my colleague David Statham, Director of Enforcement.

In the morning we were shown around a Vitacress, a Hampshire farm producing and packaging fresh baby leaf salads for major retailers. As consumers, we take for granted the fact that we can purchase ready-to-eat salads throughout the year, but we can only do this with confidence because of stringent hygiene controls at all stages of the process, from selection of seeds to careful management of water and soil.

In the afternoon we visited Farley farms, a dairy farm near Reading that produces milk for a major retailer. Athough we visited very different sectors, two strong themes emerged: get the hygiene processes right from the start and ensure that there is traceability right through the food chain.

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Its going to get worse. I

Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on 30/11/2006 - 23:23

Its going to get worse. I cant currently kill my own animals for home consumption (with some exceptions) but come 2007 & 2008 I wont be allowed to take my animals to the nearest slaughter house (70 miles each way now that the closer ones have had to close) as I will have to be a licened/tested/fee paying live stock haulier.

As a farmer I sympathise

Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on 30/11/2006 - 18:21

Woking in the food industry I sympathise with the comments from the previous respondent about red tape but only to a certain extent.

Farming is like any other commercial activity, where to do things you have always done is in reality to go backwards.

Market demands are changing and food quality and safety is increaingly important as is efficiency in a global market. I am interested in the Dr Wadge's comments as I suspect his observations about tracability are a strong market signal about where and how I need to take my business forward.

We used to be able to buy

Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on 29/11/2006 - 17:56

We used to be able to buy meat from a local butcher, who had bought from a local slaughterhouse, who had bought from a local farmer. Health officials have closed down 80% of our smaller slaughterhouses, and unnecessary legislation is still pushing small businesses out of the market. This does not help traceability, and I've noticed no change whatsoever in the health of the people around me.

If the excessively expensive red tape is felt to be necessary at these early stages of the food chain, then how about some help for small producers and processors