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National Pig Association THE VOICE OF THE UK PIG INDUSTRY NPA is active on members' behalf in Brussels & White-hall, and with pro-cessors, supermarkets, caterers – fighting for the growth and pros-perity of the UK pig industry.

In future producers will be able to choose who certifies their membership. There will be at least three companies to choose from.

The changes will take place at the beginning of September. They are being introduced as part of a general overhauling of farm assurance.

One of the aims is to make life easier for pig producers; they will be able to opt, if they wish, for a certifying body that can inspect all their farming enterprises.

The companies that intend offering Assured British Pigs certification from September include:

• European Food Safety and Inspection (EFSIS).
• Checkmate International.
• Product Authentication International.

No action is required by Assured British Pigs members at present. All will receive a letter from chairman Richard Campbell, explaining the changes and the reasons for them.

An announcement will be made when the certification bodies have been contracted and are able to offer Assured British Pigs assurance.

Currently all Assured British Pigs certification is carried out be EFSIS, who were chosen by competitive tender.

EFSIS also provide secretarial services to Assured British Pigs, which has no employees of its own. When the new rules are introduced, EFISIS will withdraw from providing secretarial duties. Assured British Pigs will appoint the Red Tractor umbrella organisation Assured Food Standards to be the pig standard's secretariat.

Its duties will include ensuring the different certification bodies enforce the standard equally. Assured British Pigs will be able to cancel certification contracts if the standards aren't enforced equally.

To help producers decide which certifying body will be best for them, NPA journal Pig World will be publishing a summary, in August issue, of the three companies concerned and the services they offer.

Source: National Pig Association - 7th July 2003