Scottish red meat processors have said they refuse to be intimidated by Food Standards Scotland’s use of legal action to resolve a dispute over the organisation’s “massive” increase in meat inspection charges.
FSS announced its 2026/27 rates in March, giving businesses three weeks’ notice of an 8.6% rise in official veterinarian charges and a 10.4% surge in meat hygiene inspector rates.
The Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers said this broke an earlier FSS agreement that future increases would be presented with sufficient time for proper discussion to take place before any new rates took effect.
SAMW members agreed to pay for all FSS hours delivered but to calculate payments at 2025/26 charge rates pending a promised Scottish government meeting.
The meeting is scheduled for 8 September, but FSS has issued final demands for the disputed balances, adding late-payment interest and a warning that court proceedings may follow.
“Instead of waiting a few more weeks for the meeting with the cabinet secretary, FSS pressed ahead with debt recovery action,” said SAMW president Alan Brown. “Our members have never refused to pay for official controls. They have continued to pay for every hour of inspection delivered within their businesses.
“The dispute concerns the additional sums created by the new rates, which were introduced with inadequate notice and before political engagement took place,” he added.
He said the industry would not be “intimidated” by the threat of legal action and said the organisation remained willing to “engage constructively”.
“Escalation by FSS will not silence the industry or make these concerns disappear,” he added.
The 2026/27 charges include a 16.3% increase in indirect costs by FSS. SAMW said businesses could not be expected to absorb increases of this scale without adequate notice, transparency, or clear evidence that every opportunity for efficiency has been pursued.
Concerns raised by the sector include that the current arrangements allow the standards agency to determine costs without a “genuine independent mechanism to test whether the costs being passed to businesses are efficient, necessary and proportionate”.
SAMW is calling for an independent adjudicator to be appointed to scrutinise these costs and assess whether FSS is operating efficiently and proportionately.
“Cost recovery cannot be a blank cheque,” said Brown. “FSS should not be both judge and jury of its own charging decisions without questions being asked about its own efficiency.
“Scottish ministers already provide significant financial support towards the cost of official controls and no Scottish meat business pays the full cost of the service,” said an FSS spokesperson.
“The charging model was co-developed by the meat industry and FSS and the 2026/27 charges were calculated under the established charging model and remain payable. Where a specific billing error is identified, FSS will investigate it.”
The spokesperson added that the organisation would seek independent assurance of the efficacy and transparency of its model through Scottish government internal audit and assurance, adding it would continue to engage with SAMW and was considering next steps on debt recovery.
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