Not surprisingly, with the announcement last week from the Food Standards Agency(FSA) that full cost recovery of meat inspection charges will definitely go ahead, the proverbial has really hit the fan.
Trade associations representing farmers and meat traders have reacted with understandable anger and hostility, so already, there is a degree of unity emerging, albeit that that unity is about all of us just "getting it off our chest." No telephone calls, no planned meetings, no ideas on a co-ordinated response........... Not yet.
In the short term, the FSA will be expecting howls of protests, indignation, threats, what have you. Just another day at the office as far as they are concerned, and they will fully expect, in the New Year, for all the fuss to die down and for things to get back to normal. Government agencies are used to rough rides, so it is up to all of us affected by these proposals to do our bit. But the FSA will be prepared, so look out soon for their propoganda machine to go into overdrive. A food scare is a nailed-on certainty sometime during the run-up, plus claims about protecting public health are sure to be raised.
And that is where I intend to concentrate my initial efforts. To remind the outside world of the realities of what vets and meat inspectors actually do in an abattoir to protect public health, and the sham of present health controls. To show, and to engage with, the outside world and to explain the truth of what is actually happening in our industry. The groundwork has been laid by Viewpoint over many years.
This is not a personal witchhunt, just a desire to lay bare the facts for scrutiny and sound judgement, to challenge inquisitive minds and to promote debate between opinion-formers. This issue is pivotal to real progress, not withstanding other important matters.
I also intend to make contact with commentators and trade representatives to hopefully help bring about a co-ordinated and structured response, the last thing that the FSAwill want to see.
To succeed you have to try.

Toby Baker