The Farmers' Union of Wales has slammed the Food Standards Agency (FSA) board for pressing ahead with meat hygiene inspection charges which will cost the farming and meat industry an estimated £25 million.
"While it would appear on the surface that the FSA has made concessions, these are minor compared with the dire impact that the plans will have on the industry, and many suspect that they are merely a smokescreen to hide this fact," said FUW president Gareth Vaughan.
"The FSA's board has effectively agreed to transfer the running costs of an outdated, disproportionate and inefficient monopoly to an industry which has already lost four-fifths of its slaughterhouses in the past two decades, mainly as a result of excessive bureaucracy."
Mr Vaughan said that the inclusion of figures which derive from the FSA's pension deficit simply add insult to injury.
"Why should the industry have to foot a bill which relates to employment contracts over which we had no control and may have been financially unrealistic, as was the case in many other industries? "
Under EU rules the FSA is entitled to collect fees or charges to cover costs occasioned by official controls, but must take account of the interests of businesses with a low throughput; traditional methods used for production, processing and distribution; and the needs of businesses located in regions subject to particular geographical constraints.
"The decision goes wholeheartedly against the spirit, if not the actual meaning, of the EU legislation and will undermines a whole host of secondary and tertiary businesses such as local butchers, restaurants and hotels," said Mr Vaughan.
At a recent meeting of the FSA's Welsh Food Advisory Committee, the FUW expressed major concerns regarding the proposals and called on the FSA to supply all slaughterhouses with details of how the revised plans would change their inspection costs.
Estimates given to slaughterhouses based on the FSA's original proposals showed some small and medium sized operations would see inspection charges rise by scores of thousands of pounds.
"We now need to see similar estimates based on the latest proposals given to all operators so that the repercussions for their businesses can be properly understood, and as far as we are concerned there has not been a proper consultation on these latest proposals," Mr Vaughan added.
"However, the overarching principle remains that industry should not be made to pay for the UK's failure to prevent the creation of a disproportionate, costly and monopolistic inspection regime."