Meat industry faces overnight fee increase and it is not April Fool’s joke

Dr Jason Aldiss, executive director of AIMS, said that some operators has seen their fees rise by as much as 25% overnight. One might ask: for what, exactly?

Dr Aldiss explained: “This latest gouge comes not with improved service, innovation, or meaningful reform, but from an FSA bloated with bureaucracy, riddled with inefficiencies, and propped up by profiteering private contractors. The FSA’s insatiable appetite for public and industry money knows no bounds.

“While the government assures us inflation is below 3%, it is curious then that a taxpayer-funded body feels entitled to deliver an inflation-busting 25% increase with no justification whatsoever.

“The FSA’s mantra, endlessly repeated, is that meat inspection is a vital public protection. If that’s so—if this is truly a ‘public good’—then let the taxpayer pay for it in full, not just the hard-pressed food businesses already bearing the burden of keeping the nation fed.”

READ MORE: AIMS launches legal challenge against FSA charges

‘Some of the safest, highest-quality meat’

Dr Aldiss noted that even chancellor Rachel Reeves called during the Spring Statement for a reduction in regulatory burden and cost.

“Yet, here we have the FSA doing the exact opposite, hiking charges in meteoric fashion and acting like it answers to no one — which, of course, it rather doesn’t.

“As an ‘arm’s length body’, the FSA is answerable to no minister and, seemingly, to no common sense either. One might be forgiven for thinking this fee hike is the ultimate one-fingered salute to government policy.

“Then there’s the small matter of value. What exactly does meat inspection deliver in 2025? Many would liken it to a mediaeval pantomime — costumed, well-rehearsed, and absolutely pointless.

“Leading scientific bodies, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and numerous veterinary institutions have long recognised that traditional meat inspection provides little to no food safety benefit. In fact, it is so poorly executed — often by undertrained, inexperienced contract staff—that the food business operators themselves have to correct the mistakes”.

And yet, the British meat industry continues to thrive — not because of the FSA, but despite it.

“We produce some of the safest, highest-quality meat in the world, and that’s a testament to the men and women working in abattoirs and across the supply chain. The industry delivers excellence in the face of continual interference, soaring charges, and regulatory overreach,” Dr Aldiss continued.

So, as we are celebrating April Fool’s Day today, the joke is sadly not a harmless one. It is a bitter reminder that the FSA, while claiming to protect the public, may in fact be driving out the very businesses that feed it, the expert concluded.

READ MORE: Have your say and help save small abattoirs

Response from FSA

Dr James Cooper, deputy director of Food Policy at the FSA responded to the claims by saying: “All abattoirs will continue to receive a sizeable discount on the costs of meat inspections, which are required by law, to protect consumers and support exports. Industry as a whole receives £14.9million of support on charges with a particular focus on the smallest abattoirs, who receive a discount of up to 90%.

“The level of increase is dependent on a number of factors including the size of the slaughterhouse, throughput of animals, FSA resource required and the designated discount band in which the slaughterhouse is placed.  The changes in discount bands may affect the support to medium or larger size abattoirs, who will, nonetheless continue to receive substantial support on the costs of these vital inspections this year.

“As there is an ongoing threat of legal action in this area we are unable to comment further at this time.  In the meantime more information on charging for our Official Controls can be found on food.gov.uk.”

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