- Meat companies using own inspectors a clear conflict of interest
- Raises risk of contaminated and diseased meat being exported
- Jobs and wages of inspectors likely to be cut
The Government's proposal to require the replacement of independent government food safety inspectors with company-employed ones threatens New Zealand's hard-won reputation for food safety and puts export markets worth $10 billion a year at risk.
The Ministry for Primary Industries has issued a draft Animal Products Notice that proposes privatising export meat inspection services. This would require all meat processing companies to hire their own inspectors instead of using independent inspectors provided by AsureQuality.
"This is reckless deregulation - why would you put New Zealand's gold-standard food safety reputation at risk?" said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
"It's irresponsible for the Government to force this on meat companies - there is no option proposed for companies to keep using the tried and trusted approach of respected AsureQuality inspectors.
"It just makes no sense. Independent meat inspection isn't broken. There is no good reason to privatise it, and every reason not to.
"For decades, independent meat inspection has given overseas buyers and consumers the confidence that our meat is safe and high quality.
"When inspectors are employed by the very companies they're scrutinising, there's an obvious conflict of interest. Company-employed inspectors will face pressure to prioritise production over food safety.
"We're talking about faecal contamination and diseased meat potentially reaching supermarkets because inspectors are under pressure from their employer. Faecal matter contains salmonella, campylobacter and e.coli which cause serious food poisoning. Why risk making shoppers in European supermarkets sick?"
The proposal may mean no independent inspectors on critical 'detain rails' where contaminated meat is inspected and defective product removed.
"New Zealand's red meat exports are worth $10 billion annually. One food safety scandal could wipe billions off our export earnings. Why take that risk?"
The proposal also threatens the jobs and working conditions of hundreds of experienced meat inspectors in rural and provincial New Zealand who face losing their jobs or having to work for the meat companies.
"Many inspectors are long serving and highly experienced. Some will retire or go offshore and be lost to the industry in the absence of any plan to retain them.
"The only winners here are the meat companies - mainly foreign-owned - who will boost their bottom lines by driving down the wages and working conditions of inspectors.
"This is the same pattern we've seen across the economy - deregulation that benefits business while workers and consumers carry the risk.
"The Government must scrap this dangerous proposal and maintain the independent meat inspection system that has served New Zealand so well."
