Jean Wales

Northern Ireland cattle farmers are beefing up their administrative skills to meet EU food safety procedures  -- but they are well up to the task, according to vet Jean Wales who receives a specialist research degree of MSc today.

Highlighting their crucial role in the area of food hygiene, farmers will be termed “food business operators” in rules that come into effect on New Year’s Day, and must keep detailed records of actions designed to control farmyard hazards such as E-coli 0157 and Salmonella.

Mrs Wales, a Scot who lives in Ballymoney, and other students from the UK and Ireland were joined by more from Japan, Austria, Greece and Malta to receive the MSc in European Food Regulatory Affairs at the Winter Graduation in Coleraine.

The University of Ulster, Trinity College Dublin and University College Cork have collaborated to provide the degree – the first of its kind in Europe - on laws and procedures on international food production and handling. The degree was developed by the Irish Universities Nutrition Alliance, which was formed in 1993 to stimulate closer links between the three institutions’ nutrition units. The programme is delivered via the Internet by CampusOne, the University of Ulster’s online campus.

Mrs Wales, who is a veterinary surgeon with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, took the course because it offered a new context for her work, which is in the area of veterinary-public health, meat production and new legislation.  She said: “The main point in the new European Union legislation for our farmers will be that they must keep a written record of what they do to manage food safety within their part of the production chain. It is all about being sure that they can show that they have taken the necessary steps to improve animal health and to help improve public health.”

However, a research project, which she conducted for her degree, shows that the vast majority of Northern Ireland’s beef producers are already getting to grips with admin skills.

“Producers who are members of the Farm Quality Assurance Scheme of the LMC (Livestock Marketing Commission) have already got into the habit of keeping records, which are demanded as part of the Scheme. Quite a number of the records they keep – for instance in recording use of veterinary medicines or noting source and use of animal feed – will assist to them in meeting the new EU rules.” Some 90 % of our beef and lamb producers are members of the Scheme.

Mrs Wales, originally from Shotts between Glasgow and Edinburgh, is married to Billy and they have a son, James, aged 14.


Winter Graduation News 2005

For further information, please contact:

David Young
Telephone: 028 90366074
Email: David Young