Soil Association questions value of change to charges Financial pressure on small and medium sized abattoirs, some serving regional multiples, seems likely to increase despite a promise of inspection cost relief as part of the government's rural aid package announced on Tuesday. Industry bodies including the Meat and Livestock Commission initially welcomed a change in the charging basis for statutory inspection from an hourly rate to a "headage" or throughput system. Small meat plant operators have been campaigning for years against allegedly discriminatory inspection costs and hourly charges for veterinary scrutiny of abattoirs handling perhaps just a few dozen animals per week have become a highly controversial issue in recent months. These little plants are said to have an important role in rural communities, prompting lobbying on their behalf by organisations including the Country Landowners Association and the National Trust. Of more relevance to the meat trade, the charging system bias against the smaller operators has been attacked by bodies such as the National Beef Association and the National Federation of Meat and Food Traders, which see it as unfairly favouring the national slaughtering companies and their supermarket customers. First to question the value of a change in the charging system was the Soil Association, which claimed the small plants upon which organic livestock farmers are dependent would nevertheless be forced out of business by other regulatory measures. The Soil Association's main objection is to an imminent ban on "pithing", the practice of using a blade or wire to destroy animals' brains after stunning. Abandoning this procedure, which is used to prevent beasts' post mortem kicks endangering workers, is claimed to require slaughterhouse structural changes which most small operators cannot afford. {{MEAT }}