What date was the proposal first made to transfer meat inspection responsibilities from AsureQuality to meat processing companies, and who was this made by?

Answer

On 13 August 2012 the Deputy Director – General Standards within the Ministry for Primary Industries issued an export notice which permitted company personnel to undertake specified meat inspection duties for export eligible meat. The Animal Products Act 1999 (APA Act) places a duty on operators of risk management programmes to adequately implement and resource all operations under the programme but does not specify who must undertake individual roles. Part 5 (Export of animal material and products) of the APA Act was used to specify independent meat inspection for certain export markets.