Actions taken by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) to address issues around controls at pet food plants have been "effective", according to a new audit report.

In 2024, European Commission auditors found the system of official controls in Ireland's pet food processing plants overseen by the department was "not fit for purpose".

The EU has laid down strict requirements on animal by-products (ABP) and derived products (DP) to prevent and minimise risks arising from those products, and to protect the safety of the food and feed chain.

Audit

Last September, officials from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG Sante) carried out a further audit.

This audit assessed whether the system of official controls on ABP and derived products is "capable of providing reliable assurances that the operators along the production chain comply with EU requirements".

It also evaluated the actions taken by DAFM to address the concerns raised in the 2024 report.

The report concluded that the department has "implemented all actions announced, these actions were effective and, as a result, the recommendation of the 2024 audit on official controls on pet food has been satisfactorily addressed".

The auditors noted that DAFM officials have carried out verification inspections in petfood and in ABP processing plants.

"Non-compliances identified during verification inspections were discussed during training sessions for the staff in charge of official controls on ABP both in ABP plants and meat-producing establishments," the report said.

In the first half of 2025, DAFM staff completed 257 out of the 298 planned inspections, reaching a completion rate of 86%.

The auditors found the arrangements in place for registration, approval, and listing of establishments are in line with legislative requirements.

Non-compliances

The 2024 audit identified various widespread non-compliances in relation to commercial documents, ranging from absence of such documents to various degrees of incompleteness.

To address this, DAFM organised training sessions for its staff in charge of controls in meat establishments and ABP plants.

The department also liaised with ABP and the meat industry to raise awareness of the regulations around documents.

"All verified consignments were accompanied by commercial documents, and the vast majority of them contained all required information and, where applicable, warning sentences," the report added.

The audit team said there was evidence of effective use of a feedback system, "resulting in instant correction by non-compliant operators".

The auditors said all ABP plants visited during this audit were compliant with requirements.

"More importantly, in contrast to the situation observed during the 2024 audit, assessments by official controls recorded in the inspection reports reliably reflected the situation in the plants," they added.

Official controls

The report also concluded that, beyond pet food, all of the elements needed for an effective official control system on the ABP production chain are in place.

The auditors said that official controls in ABP processing plants complied with hygiene and infrastructural requirements.

However, the team found that such controls overlooked incomplete or incorrect validation of processing methods by the operators.

"Validation is a key requirement to demonstrate the capacity of the processing methods to reduce hazards to a level which does not pose any significant risks to public and animal health," the auditors said.

During the audit, DAFM committed to reviewing its control procedures and requested all of the plants visited to address the issues identified by the audit team.

The department created or updated a range of documents and procedures to ensure that its staff have access to the correct information when carrying out official controls during validation at ABP processing plants.

These documents were issued during a training day for veterinary inspectors and technical officers, which took place in January.