Farm assurance 2

Question 1

What farm assurance schemes exist?

Answer 1

• Food standards agency
• Red tractor
• Organic soil association
• RSPCA
• Certified sustainable seafood MSC
• Farm quality assured
• Lion mark
• QMS (quality meat Scotland)

Question 2

What does the Lion mark mean?

Answer 2

• salmonella vaccinated
• produced to a strict Code of Practice

for:
- public confidence
- retailer support
- food safety
- promoting British produce

Question 3

Salmonella control in poultry - the lion mark

Answer 3

• aimed to reduce Salmonella in breeding flocks to less than 1% by 2009
• flocks >350 birds, breeding birds tested at 4w/o and 2w pre laying
• test positive flocks culled with full compensation
• smaller flocks still exempt from testing
• now changed to any flock >50 birds needs to be tested

Question 4

Tesco standards objectives

Answer 4

• To provide a simple set of outcome measures which can be recorded on all farms supplying Tesco with milk
• To provide a small number of definitive and absolute standards, to which farms supplying Tesco with milk must comply
• To use outcome measures to allow farmers to benchmark their own performance against their peers, and reward those who consistently perform to the highest levels

Question 5

What does farm assurance mean to the primary producer?

Answer 5

• pride in what they produce
• business goals centred around health and welfare
• better relationship with vets

Question 6

Post CAP agriculture - primary producer

Answer 6

CAP was the Common Agricultural Policy. Money for all producers from the EU based on land area and some additional payments for improving the environment

England – Animal Health and Welfare Pathway

Wales – Sustainable Farming Scheme

Scotland - ? Agricultural reform board set up

Northern Ireland – will be led by environmental drivers

Question 7

Traditional Food safety

Answer 7

• Risk reduction through proactive management of risk at all points of the food chain
• Traceability throughout whole system is required
• Responsibility is assigned to all areas of food chain to minimise risks to the consumer
• The goal of a lot of assurance is to move the food safety risk control earlier in the chain

Question 8

What does farm assurance mean to the manufacturer?

Answer 8

• can set standards for their producers
• these standards are measured by a vet
• the manufacturer can promote to the retailer based on this assurance
• stabilises supply chain

Question 9

Food safety and quality - based on BSE example

Answer 9

• Cleaned up the meat production industry
• Made producers aware of their responsibilities and consumer demands
• Created a national database and cattle identification system
• Induced farm assurance schemes and consumer awareness
• Proved the importance of legislation with enforcement