Fury over FSA charges 'to fill pension fund hole'

Moves by the Food Standards Agency to fill a £100 million plus hole in its pension fund through increased meat inspection charges received a hostile reception yesterday from farm lobby organisations.

NFU Scotland chief executive James Withers described the proposal as "staggering and totally unacceptable".

He said: "FSA is already proposing to foist 32m-worth of meat inspection charges on to the industry. Not only is that totally inappropriate and unaffordable but these figures call into question the rationale for FSA arriving at that decision."

The union reaction followed a similar protest from the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers following a meeting between the FSA and industry representatives this week.

"After years of striving to establish details of the overheads included in the FSA's meat inspection charges, light has finally been shed on this issue," said Ian Anderson, SAMW executive manager.

It was also revealed that the pension deficit element in the FSA's proposed charges for 2011-12 is 4.7m. In addition, claimed Anderson "it's still not clear what the FSA's current pension contribution costs are or how the FSA intends to manage its future pension liability".