Tag Archives: AsureQuality

First meat plant introduces new carcase inspections

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In early September, Affco’s Imlay meat processing plant in Whanganui became the first plant to introduce the new ‘Ovine Post-Mortem Inspection’ regime.

The new  inspection regime involves company staff, rather than AsureQuality personnel, checking carcases for non-food safety or quality aspects (see Food NZ, December/January 2011). The move came after trials of the new system at the Affco plant proved successful and overseas authorities approved the equivalence of the new inspection regime.. Four other plants  – Alliance Smithfield, Silver Fern Farms Pareora, Riverlands Blenheim and Affco Manawatu – are expected to introduce the new system later this year.

AsureQuality meat inspectors will still be onsite to undertake food safety post-mortem inspections on all meat products. Final oversight of the products remains the responsibility of the Ministry of Primary Industries Verification vets on the plant.

This article appeared in Food New Zealand magazine (October/November 2012).

Meat inspection no longer exclusively provided by AsureQuality

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Last Tuesday, AFFCO’s Imlay plant in Whanganui was the first to be allowed to introduce meat inspection by its own employees. Till then this function has been performed exclusively by government employed meat inspectors, originally employed by MAF, subsequently by the state-owned-enterprise AsureQuality, writes Allan Barber.

The proposal to allow meat companies to have a hand in meat inspection finally saw light of day about two years ago, although the companies have been dissatisfied with the government monopoly for many years. I can remember the issue raising its head in the early 1990s when the meat inspectors went on strike because of pay and conditions.

AFFCO, for whom I worked at the time, had its production disrupted by a group of employees on its plants, employed by a different employer on different terms from its own workforce and belonging to a different union, the Public Service Association (PSA). Not surprisingly, AFFCO was unhappy at this state of affairs.

But 20 years later, after negotiations and discussions with MAF, then the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and a trial at Imlay, overseas regulatory authorities (notably USDA and EU) have approved the equivalence of the proposed inspection procedure.

There will still be at least two AsureQuality food safety assessors monitoring each shift and final oversight of the product remains the responsibility of the MPI Verification vets on the plant. The most significant difference will be in the total number of employees, because on all plants there have been up to 12 meat inspectors and supervisors across a two shift operation.

In future, meat workers on the chain will be responsible for their own inspection, supervised by official inspectors who must be trained to the same level and subject to the same performance checks as AsureQuality’s inspectors. There will be considerable savings from the new system which the PSA argues will place an undue emphasis on production at the expense of food safety.

MPI released the proposed Post Mortem Inspection regulations for cattle, sheep and goats and asked for submissions by 13 July this year. The response, from what I assume was the PSA, raised several concerns about the risks to New Zealand’s reputation for safe food which the current inspection model had guaranteed for more than three decades. MPI’s replies to the objections indicated its satisfaction with the proposed process which overseas authorities had already approved.

In its submission, the PSA also stated its willingness to discuss opportunities for more flexibility and productivity gains. This all sounds constructive, until one realises the meat companies have been trying for at least 20 years to do just that without success.

A further four meat plants – Alliance Smithfield, Silver Fern Farms Pareora, Riverlands Blenheim and AFFCO Manawatu – will adopt the new company meat inspection procedure by the end of January 2013. At this point, a review will be conducted before approval for a rollout across the industry over the next two seasons.

Kelvan Smith, AsureQuality’s group manager operations, says that the SOE accepts what is happening is inevitable, but wants to make sure it has a clear understanding of the industry’s timetable for the change. His main concern is to manage the impact on employees of what is likely to be a 50 percent reduction in staff numbers by the end of the process.

It is possible that not all meat processors will want to change from the present system, especially if they have a good working relationship with the meat inspectors working at their plants. However, cost pressures make this unlikely, if the new arrangements work well. The PSA and its affected members will be keeping their fingers crossed.

 

New meat inspection programme gets thumbs up

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Successful trials of a new meat inspection programme have resulted in the thumbs up from major overseas regulators, reducing costs for meat exporters, but not at the expense of food safety.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has received advice from regulatory authorities in Europe and the United States, two of the industry’s major export destinations, that the proposed new meat inspection programme meets their requirements and can be used for products exported to these markets.

The proposed programme is based on successful trial work (profiled in Food NZ, Dec 2010/Jan 2011) and would allow for fully trained meat company staff to carry out some non-food safety aspects of meat inspections, known in the industry as ‘suitability’ or quality aspects.

Official government inspectors will continue to carry out food safety-related functions.

MPI, the Meat Industry Association (MIA) and AsureQuality have formed a team to develop a plan to implement the new inspection programme. This will require some changes to MPI standards, on which MPI will be consulting.

This article appeared in Food NZ magazine (August/September 2012).

New head for AsureQuality

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AsureQuality has a new chief executive. Michael Thomas, previously PGG Wrightson’s group general manager for agri services, financial services and its South American operation in Christchurch, started on 5 June 2012.

During his time with PGG Wrightson, Thomas had responsibility for over 1,800 staff and $700 million annual revenue. Prior to this, Michael spent 10 years in group general management positions in Australia’s leading Agri services company Landmark, and parent company AWB (Australian Wheat Board).

AsureQuality says that Thomas brings “a unique blend of strong industry knowledge and involvement in the food and agricultural sectors, both in New Zealand and overseas; and will continue to extend the breadth and quality of the company’s services in Australasia and internationally.”

The Board is delighted to recruit such an experienced and highly-regarded chief executive to lead the next phase of the company’s development.

Evolving halal

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Tony Egan' Greenlea Premier Meats new managing director

Greenlea Premier Meat’s new managing director Tony Egan spoke at the Fifth World Halal Research Summit in Kuala Lumpur on behalf of the NZ meat industry – the first time a New Zealander has been invited to do so. He talks to Food NZ about his return to the Egan family company and the New Zealand message he took to the Summit.

Egan is enjoying returning to the company he originally joined  in 1993, starting on day one working on the beef chain.

“It’s great to be back,” he says, after his 11 years since he left his role as managing director (marketing and finance) in 2001. Not that he’s been exactly idle in between: he spent five years as chief executive for AFFCO New Zealand, which had a turnover of $1.5 billion and 3,500 staff, before moving on to head up 1,700 staff and 130 locations of New Zealand’s largest quality assurance organisation AsureQuality for another five years.

He rejoined Waikato-based Greenlea Premier Meats in December 2011. The company these days has 360 staff, employed over two sites in Morrinsville and Hamilton, and a throughput of 180,300 animals last season. The loyal staff seem to be  happy with the family values promulgated by the company, which include personal touches such as Easter eggs, Christmas hams and a family open day at Morrinsville where families are invited to come in and see what their parents do at work. As one employee Zane Sayer puts it on the website, “Greenlea has a very pleasant work atmosphere and we take comfort in knowing we are able to work through the entire year.”

Having worked in private and public companies plus a State-Owned Enterprise, Egan reckons he’s covered off most of the business models now and is looking forward to putting his skills to work, both for the family company and also for the industry. He’s already a new council member of the Meat Industry Association (MIA).

His knowledge of the evolution of halal processing requirements for a variety of Muslim markets over the years, plus the fact that AsureQuality was involved in independent testing for porcine and alcohol traces on behalf of halal authorities in its 32 staff Singaporean office, made Egan the ideal contender to speak to the Fifth World Halal Research Summit in Kuala Lumpur on behalf of the industry.The Summit was held in conjunction with the Seventh World Halal Research Forum. With 1,000 delegates expected from 40 countries it was an important opportunity for New Zealand.

MAF: best halal service provider 2011

The invitation follows on from an award received by the Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry (MAF) for best service provider at the 2011 Forum – the first time a non-Muslim country had received the award and came a year after MAF implemented the Animal Products (Overseas Market Access Requirements for Halal Assurances) Notice, Egan explains.

“It’s a great credit to the work MAF’s director of market access Tony Zohrab and the rest of the MAF team have done in this area.”

Currently involving 48 certified processing plants, employing 214 qualified halal slaughtermen in this country, New Zealand’s market for exports of red meat and other edible products to Muslim markets was worth nearly $490 million to the year end June 2011, according to the MIA. With its diverse markets, and offering an outlet for reducing reliance on traditional trading partners, halal represents a sizeable cross-border sector for the meat industry to focus on to grow market share and value in line with the Red Meat Sector Strategy.

Evolution of thought

The message Egan will be taking to Kuala Lumpur on behalf of the industry is that the trade has moved away from the supply of frozen carcases to Iran in the 1970s and 80s towards newer markets in Asia.“There has been an evolution of thought and the New Zealand industry has taken the time, over the last 15-18 years, to better understand those Asian consumers,” Egan says, adding that the journey of understanding has led religion and science to come together.

The perfect example of that understanding is the innovative New Zealand-developed method of halal slaughter that through stunning livestock insensible before slaughter satisfies both Muslim religious requirements for live slaughter and New Zealand and other Western consumers’ requirements for humane slaughter. But that’s only part of the stringent processing standards in place here today as part of the accredited halal programme, which also include: segregation of halal product, supervision during processing, the training and certification of all halal slaughtermen and the commitment and urgency of the workforce to ensure compliance to halal standards.

The Halal Notice represents the evolution of thought and has formed a good foundation for the industry, giving customers an all-important government assurance that what they understand is happening is in fact occurring, Egan says.

“The paradigm has shifted from a one-dimensional process to a multi-dimensional one.”

What does the halal customer need?

The concept of halal, defined by the Qu’Ran as ‘allowed’, ‘permitted’ or lawful’ has slowly become accepted as a consumer lifestyle choice, not only encompassing religion and food, but also finance, non-food products and logistics. It provides a set of laws and guiding principles and separates out those animals that are prohibited ‘haram’ and those permitted ‘halal’, as well as outlining methods of slaughtering, prohibits consuming blood or blood products and intoxicants, such as alcohol).

Halal customer’s needs focus on the concept of ‘tayyib‘, Egan explains: “That food is wholesome, nutritional and safe. It brings in many concepts including environmental sustainability, safety and animal welfare and is not particularly onerous for New Zealand processors to provide.”

Although there are a number of other meat exporting countries servicing halal markets, he believes that New Zealand has the opportunity to take a unique approach, particularly in the innovation of processes in the wholesomeness and in the wholesomeness and food safety areas for which this country is renowned.

With an estimated 1.5 billion Muslims around the globe, halal markets are still growing. Indonesia alone, New Zealand’s largest halal market, was worth over $120 million last year and there is a growing range of other halal customers – Singapore, South Africa, China, France and the US (where there are over 10 million Muslims). Customers are interested not only in the meat itself, but also the by-products like offal. There is a growing halal market for raw materials for pharmaceutical and cosmetic use, where Egan says there is also a role for AsureQuality to play

Challenges ahead, however, include dealing with restrictive tariffs and quotas, limiting New Zealand’s access to various markets which the meat industry is working closely on with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade.

Another area is achieving a consistent understanding of what halal certification means across the many different markets.

“New Zealand’s approach is becoming increasingly accepted as the sensible approach,” Egan says, adding that his speaking opportunity outlined what New Zealand Inc is capable of and what’s possible for the future.

Tony Egan spoke at the Fifth World Halal Research Summit, 4-5 April 2012 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Reproduced with kind permission of Food NZ magazine.