Summary
In 2011, the SAFEMEAT initiatives Review was commissioned to assess the future requirements of Australia's through-chain systems in order to support domestic and overseas market access for red meat products into the future.
Following completion of theReview in November 2013, a Steering Group was appointed to take the recommendations forward. The Steering Group worked with industry, government and experts to investigate the best ways to implement the recommendations and achieve the vision of an integrated system for red meat.
The Steering Group delivered it's final report "Towards an Integrated Integrity System" under project V.SMA.1505 to SAFEMEAT Partners in August 2015.
In related and prior activities, and to help inform the Steering Group's decisions and recommendations, consultants were engaged to develop papers, including:
Gap analysis of Industry Assurance Programs
A key objective of the SAFEMEAT Initiatives Review is to align the standards of industry programs with the standards agreed by regulatory agencies food safety, biosecurity, traceability and animal welfare. To achieve this objective, there is a need to ensure that the industry's assurance programs are underpinned by common standards and integrate effectively through the chain.
To help guide the integration and consistency of the performance standards of industry programs, a gap analysis was conducted comparing regulatory and customer requirements for food safety, biosecurity, traceability and animal welfare with the standards of industry assurance programs through the red meat supply chain.
Project V.SMA.1409 assessed elements of the red meat and livestock supply chain, including on-farm production; feedlots; saleyards; transport; slaughtering and processing; and preparation of livestock for export up to the point of the vessel leaving Australia.
The industry assurance programs assessed were Livestock Production Assurance (LPA), National Livestock Identification System (NLIS), National Feedlot Accreditation Scheme (NFAS), National Saleyard Quality Assurance (NSQA), Australian Pork Industry Quality Assurance (APIQ), Dairy Company Quality Assurance (QA) programs, FeedSafe,TruckSafe Animal Welfare and processor QA programs.
The report found several gaps between regulatory requirements and industry program standards, most prevalent on-farm for cattle, sheep and goats in the areas of animal welfare and biosecurity. It is important to note that the 'gap' only indicates where the standards of the industry assurance program are not aligned with regulatory or customer requirements. It does not mean there is a gap in the food safety, biosecurity, animal welfare or traceability system.
The report also recommended the development of national biosecurity standards to be used in industry assurance programs to deliver consistency along the supply chain.
The report provides recommendations to SAFEMEAT and to industry program owners to achieve greater alignment between industry assurance regulatory and customer requirements.
Structural review of red meat integrity systems
Project V.SMA.1512 reviewed the structural arrangements (both policy setting and operations) for industry's integrity systems, specifically: the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS), the Livestock Production Assurance (LPA) program and the National Vendor Declaration (NVD) system.
Responsibility for policy and delivery of the various systems currently resides with SAFEMEAT, AUS-MEAT, NLIS Limited, Meat & Livestock Australia, as well as a range of different committees which include representatives of industry and government (both state and national). The responsibility of these integrity systems is spread between a range of different policy committees and delivery agencies, despite the linkages and interdependencies of these systems and programs.
This report identified options, which were considered by the SAFEMEAT Initiatives Review Steering Group, outlining optimal structural arrangements to support these programs into the future, in order to deliver a cohesive and comprehensive future strategy for the delivery of industry integrity systems.
