Offaly County Council's Veterinary section is responsible for carrying out functions in relation to food safety.
There is a service contract between Offaly County Council and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI).
The Veterinary Section implements this contract. It covers the following:
The following measures are taken to ensure safe food production
The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points System (HACCP) has been widely promoted as the means of delivering safe food.
Main tasks of the Veterinary Section in relation to Food Safety are as follows:
- Reviewing all aspects of the abattoir operation and arrange the issue of licenses, as agreed with the authority.
- Providing whole-time and 'such and so many other' veterinary inspectors as it considers necessary, and support staff.
- Allocating veterinary inspectors to particular duties.
- Setting the days and times of slaughterings.
- Providing for ante-mortem examinations.
- Providing for post-mortem examinations.
- Applying the 'health mark' if Section 42(1) of the Act has been complied with.
- Checking for illegal slaughterings.
- Checking for unstamped meats.
- Checking for operational hygiene and general maintenance of premises.
- Making returns to central authority.
- Sampling meat.
- Prosecuting offences.