Many items in the standard are statutory Legal Requirements laid down by legislation, so what is being asked for is no more or no less than the legal requirements of the law.
It is important to stress that the APPLICABLE PRODUCER STANDARD should be your guiding document in all cases and that this document is only a broad overview of what is required.
The relevant Producer Standard is:
Please take the time to read the SDAS Standard so that you are fully aware of all of the requirements. The following documents need to be available to the inspector during the inspection. (Only if applicable to your type of enterprise).
Once your closing meeting has been completed with the Inspector, the inspection details go through some further steps before final decision. These are as follows:
Below, please find links to documents and pages that may help you prepare for your inspection: Click on any one of them to download a PDF that you can print off for reference:
This scheme has been running since 2014 and accounts for 50% of all milk produced in Ireland. The scheme is open to all Bovine Milk producers with a Republic of Ireland Herd number. It is free to join, but there is a bit of preparatory work to be done, prior to your Inspection by a Bord Bia approved Inspector.
Please look at the REQUIRED DOCUMENTS on the right hand panel for a list of all documents and records you need for your inspection.
Since more than 12% of the ENTIRE WORLDS Baby Food Formulation is produced in Ireland, our customers DEMAND it.
If we do not put our very best foot forward, we will be driven back to selling our milk as a cheap commodity product, ill thought of and poorly priced. Is this really what anyone wants?
If you want a future for your Dairy farm, a decent price for your produce and some hope for the future, this is the only choice available.
Not doing so will virtually GUARANTEE poor prices for you in the future with little or no market avaliable to anyone.
Quite the opposite in fact. The information gathered during the course of your Bord Bia Inspection is confidential and is not shared between other agencies, external entities or third parties.
However, some third parties may look to see whether you are quality assured or not as a way of pre-screening your farm for an inspection. By not being Quality Assured, you INCREASE the risk of having an inspection from another agency.
So, you are much LESS LIKELY to have an inspection by another agency if you are in the scheme, though not precluded from having one.
There are as many different types of farms as there are farmers, so no one size fits all. Some farms will have superbly built, modern and very comprehensive infrastructure, while other farms will comprise only the most basic elements and may not even include housing or other facilities.
In all cases, the infrastructure needs to be sufficient for the type of farming practiced, but basic farm infrastructure can be adequate to pass the Inspection.
In principal, if a farm is neat and tidy, with sufficient facilities to ensure the safety and welfare of both animals and humans and to pose no threat to the environment, there is no reason for any farm to be in-eligible on infrastructure alone.
Ensure your Dairy and Parlour are clean and free from dust and contaminents, clusters and milk collection bottles are clean and washed.
Take the time to walk your farm and identify and eliminate any obvious safety risks. This is not only good practice from the Inspection point of view, but simply makes sense. Once this has been done, you should formalize this into the Farm Safety Risk Assessment document.
As part of the marketing strategy for Ireland's agricultural production, Bord Bia is trying to promote a green, clean and sustainable image of Ireland as a food producer and it is one which we can largely stand over. It follows that producers must comply with this key element of the producer standard.
During your Farm walk you should also try to identify and eliminate any obvious pollution risks. Here are some obvious pollution hazards that must be avoided.
Burning plastic outdoors is the biggest cause of Dioxin pollution in the atmosphere, so don't do it! Dispose of all plastics, oils, and other waste materials properly
Protecting our environment is in everyone's interest, so do everything you can to encourage good environmental practices on your farm. This can often save you money as well as being good practice while bad environmental practice can have a negative impact on your Inspection