The International Meat Trade Association (IMTA) has welcomed The Elliott report and particularly the recommendation that the FSA sets up a new food crime unit.
A statement, released by the Associsaion says: "As legitimate meat traders, our members fully support the prosecution of anyone involved in criminal or fraudulent activity in relation to the supply of food.
"In supporting such prosecutions, IMTA also welcomes the acknowledgement in the report that ‘the controls on the majority of internationally imported (3rd country) meat allow little room for fraud.’ At the time of the horse meat incident all imported product of non-EU origin was clear of any horse DNA. 79 samples from 6 countries were tested.
"During last years’ horse meat debacle, the media focussed on ‘meat traders’ as the weak link in the supply chain. In response to this, IMTA has produced a paper on ‘the role of a trader’ to make clear the positive contribution made by legitimate traders who bring a wealth of skills to the food supply chain. IMTA has met with Professor Elliott and is working with The Food Standards Agency on this issue. IMTA is keen to be involved in work on the proposed safe haven for intelligence sharing by industry which is to be used to target the work of the new Food Crime Unit."
Forum to be held in November
In November of this year IMTA will be holding a Risk Forum entitled ‘Identifying, Assessing and Mitigating Risk’ for its members at which Professor Elliott will be speaking.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
