The proposal revising the meat inspection system including charging industry for the cost of inspections and other supervision.

Proposals before the board relating to the revision of the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) aim to make the agency more efficient.

The MHS would also be required to reduce costs, improve productivity and build more effective partnerships with industry, according to a board report.

The proposal would retain direct FSA control of the MHS, although the agency "could have greater autonomy in some areas of policy and enforcement", according to the report.

Another proposal would allow the FSA to delegate the delivery of official controls to one or more private bodies.

Under this revision the FSA would select and accredit the control bodies and manage them by contract and service level agreements, including removing their accreditation where necessary.

The independent control bodies, whether private, public or voluntary, would employ the vets and inspectors. They would also offer to provide official controls to the plants, perhaps alongside other services, the report suggests.

"This option tends to be favoured by the industry, who see it as a means to improve standards, build industry responsibility and reduce costs," the report stated.

Control bodies are not the same as the current contractors, although some of the larger contractors aspire to become control bodies, the report noted.

The report also aims to develop principles for a new charging and cost –sharing structure. The structure would be moved progressively towards full cost recovery, with the aim to reduce the current FSA subsidy to the MHS.

"It would also provide incentives to businesses and those delivering official controls to organise their activities more efficiently," the report stated.

The report does not recommend devolving responsibility for meat inspection and controls to local authorities, who are currently responsible for food safety matters in their regions.

"However, we do recommend identifying the circumstances where local authority delivery might make sense, probably as part of an integrated support package for smaller, more isolated and perhaps more economically vulnerable plants," the report's authors stated.

Other topics to be discussed include an update on the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) testing system, cloned animals, and Sudan I and labelling.

In relation to labelling the board will debate proposals relating to foods sold loose and a programme to conduct further consumer research.

FSA chief executive John Harwood will also report on the EuroFreeze investigation.

A judicial hearing into whether to destroy a second batch of meat seized from the company's storage premises in Northern Ireland began on 15 January and is continuing, he will report.

A "significant quantity" of the material that was to be subject of this hearing was voluntarily surrendered by the owners of the material and a batch of 41 pallets of poultry was condemned by the magistrate on 23 January, he reports.

Evidence relating to 112 pallets of meat remains to be dealt with by the magistrate. The hearing is scheduled for 20 February.

A criminal case against EuroFreeze has been filed and a summons on 13 charges relating to allegations of falsely labelled meat is due to commence today (14 February).

Harwood will also report that Bowland Dairy Products has disposed of all curd cheese as an animal by-product. The European Commission has told the FSA that it intends to revoke its decision of last October, which prohibited the marketing of Bowland curd cheese.

He believes the revocation could possibly happen later this month.

"We understand that the Commission will take a formal decision next month to terminate the infraction proceedings against the UK begun last October," he says in a published report to be presented at the meeting.

The FSA is awaiting the EU's Food and Veterinary Office report into its inspection visit of the UK dairy industry in November.

"Whilst we continue to press the Commission on this, and for further consideration of the whole issue at EU level, we intend to issue provisional and precautionary guidance shortly aimed at ensuring that cheese recovery practices in the UK fully comply with legislative requirements," he reports.

A group of national experts set up by the FSA to consider the issue of antibiotics in milk have held two meetings. Another meeting is planned for next month.

"The Commission has not yet been able to institute the promised EU-wide expert discussion of such in milk issues," he says. "We have expressed to the Commission our hope that the delay will not be too long."

He also reports that a hearing will be held on 20-21 February on a case brought by Friends of the Earth over the FSA regarding its handling of the contamination of US long grain rice with an unauthorised genetically modified rice.

The Friends of the Earth's claims that the FSA unlawfully failed to fulfil its obligations under the European Commission's decision on emergency measures for the unauthorised GM rice.

The FSA will contest the claim.