Roythornes Solicitors, acting on behalf of the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS), has commenced legal action challenging the charges that the Food Standards Agency (FSA) are levying on the meat industry.
“There are two reasons why we have taken this decision,” said Peter Hewson, veterinary director at AIMS.
“Firstly, the FSA’s insistence on focusing any discussion on the meat charges ‘subsidy’ rather than looking for the causes of the excessively high charges.
“And, secondly, the scale of the increase in charges to be introduced from April 2025, which will see them rise by 11% for the industry as a whole and charges for medium sized abattoirs increase by 25%.”
Counsel have advised that three issues should be included in the challenge.
The first is that FSA has included costs in its calculation of the new hourly rates of £65.90 for an Official Veterinarian (OV) and £43.20 for a Meat Hygiene Inspector (MHI) that cannot lawfully be included.
AIMS highlighted that it was also impossible to ascertain what elements of the charges are “costs connected with” official controls, rather than the chargeable costs of exercising the official controls themselves, which it said was non-compliant with the requirement for a high level of transparency.
Additionally, AIMS found that charges for enforcement activity “go beyond the recovery of expenses” that the Regulations provide for.
Hewson concluded: “Our letter asks the FSA to strip out all costs from its hourly rates that cannot be lawfully charged, and we urge them to relook at their calculations.”
Dr James Cooper, deputy director of food policy at the FSA, commented: “We are aware of this action and we are considering the response. In the meantime more information on charging for our Official Controls can be found on food.gov.uk.”
