Meat Processing - Galway County Council

Small Meat Processing Plants

Galway County Council is responsible for carrying out official controls in small meat processing plants(SMMPs). This includes the initial approval and ongoing supervision of these plants. Regular inspections are carried out to ensure operational & structural hygiene are of the highest possible standard – (labelling & traceability of all products).

All of these plants have Food Safety Management Systems in place which embrace the principal of Good Manufacturing Practice and HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points).

The following areas are of particular importance:

General hygiene
Labelling and traceability of all products
Proper disposal of all waste.
Sampling plans. Every meat plant has a laboratory sampling plan to sample product and the work environment as part of their “own checks” programme. Testing for microbiology and other chemical hazards such as nitrates/nitrites is included.
Adequate training of staff.

Galway County Council Veterinary staff provide advice & guidance to the proprietors of these plants. Dramatic improvements have been made to all small meat processing plants in the past number of years due to legislative changes and availability of new technologies.

These approved businesses can trade their produce throughout Ireland and the EU. They must apply an official identification mark on the labels of their products. This comprises an oval mark which contains the plant’s four digit number along with ‘EC’ and either ‘IE’ or ‘Ireland’.

LIST OF S.M.M.P. SUPERVISED BY GALWAY COUNTY COUNCIL VETERINARY SERVICES
(pdf, 9 kbs, Last Updated: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:31:00 GMT)