The veterinary organisations have been accused of seeking to create a monopoly for their members on farms and the entire food safety area at the expense of farmers. This followed the announcement by the vets of their Meat and Milk Assurance Programme yesterday.
The Irish Farmers' Association president, Mr John Donnelly, said it was regrettable that the organisations had announced a new group to audit farmers without their consultation or agreement.
The four veterinary organisations, representing over 2,000 vets, said their meat and milk scheme was aimed at preventing, eliminating and correcting potential problems by building quality and safety controls at farm level.
Mr Diarmuid Dooge, chairman of the Veterinary Certified Food Assurance Board and vice-president of the Irish Veterinary Association, said the vets wanted to introduce the best quality assurance scheme in the world.
He said 50 per cent of health hazards began on the farm and that faeces from hides had been found to be the cause of the recent Scottish outbreak of E coli 0157 H7 that killed 20 people.
The profession was unhappy with the the EU's residue testing requirements and as food processing speeded up it would become impossible to check for all problems.
On-farm inspection by veterinary inspectors and the introduction of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points in processing plants could guarantee safe food to consumers, he said.
Mr John Molloy of the IVA said the system would require the State's animal identification system to be put in place. It is due to become operable next year.
Private vets will carry out on-farm inspections and certifying that animal production, welfare and drug use are in order. In turn, the board will train department vets to act as external auditors to the system.
He said that the scheme would need the support of the State and he hoped it would be part of the Department of Agriculture's Quality Assurance scheme which is to start next year.
Discussions were under way with the farming organisations and the processors, who appeared to be positive about the scheme, he said, adding that it would greatly benefit consumers and provide a boost for export sales.
Mr Molloy said there was also a need for public awareness of the dangers from food poisoning which was increased by the mixing of meat in mince form. He said a register of meat being minced should be kept by processors.
He was also concerned at the way some butchers tended to process meat at room temperature. This was all right as long as the meat involved was not left in such heat for over four hours, when it became "a ticking time bomb", he said.
The IFA president, Mr Donnelly, said his organisation was fully committed to implementing a comprehensive consumer assurance scheme to guarantee food safety and had agreed the necessary certification requirements with the Department of Agriculture.
"There is no agreement as yet on the method for independent certification of farm standards," he said.