The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) does not have to cooperate if slaughterhouses and/or meat companies want to expand their production. This is the thrust of at least three lawsuits that have served in recent months.
Slaughterhouse and meat processor compaxo received two zero requests for an application for more vets or more vetting hours. Fellow company Holland Meat Service There was no need to serve in Dodewaard either. The appeals board for the business community has stated this in various cases.
The rulings are the provisional conclusion in protracted cases. Holland Vlees Service already asked for more hours and/or medical examiners in July 2020. Compaxo did that in December of the same year.
The NVWA tells the court that it is not obliged to comply with requests for more hours. A spokesperson for the organization refers to the fact that the NVWA has been struggling for years with problems finding enough skilled people for the inspection work.
A spokesperson for the Central Organization for the Meat Sector (COV) counters that the meat sector is the most intensively controlled sector in the food industry. In addition, the sector pays €50 million per year to ensure that these inspections run smoothly. In that sense, not being able to inspect is a disappointing matter, according to the COV.