Germany: Pork producers fed up with strict quality rules
Production criteria as posed by the German organisation for testmarking food are being felt as too suffocating and should not be made even more strict, German agricultural newspaper Top Agrar reports.
A©group of pig producers in the area around Wesel, West Germany voiced their grievances in a survey. A vast majority of 92% of the participating agricultural professionals indicated to be unhappy with the current Quality and Safety (QS) system.
In particular, the growing bureaucratic burden due to the continuous adding of new criteria creates anger among producers, a task force in the group said in a resolution.
Piglet castration
The complaints mainly came down to pig production – with regard to piglet castration, QS rules largely exceed national legislation. In addition, sharpening of the valuation matrix is being criticised and the audits are being considered exaggerated.
Producers have increasingly come to consider the QS demands as signs of a system, that once was good, now getting too self-conscious.
They claim additional sharpening of rules should not be proposed without a proper opinion from the field. What is needed is an approach by the QS that is reduced in size and fit to daily practice. The emphasis should be on credible production of healthy food – and not on the size of the documentation folder.
Related websites:
• QS
• Top Agrar
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