Final Report of an Audit Carried Out in Austria Covering Austria's Meat Inspection System, September 17 through September 27, 2007

摘要

The audit took place in Austria from September 17 through September 27, 2007. An opening meeting was held on September 17, 2007, in Vienna with the Central Competent Authority (CCA). At this meeting, the audit team confirmed the objective and scope of the audit, the audit team's itinerary, and requested additional information needed to complete the audit of Austria's meat inspection system. The audit team was accompanied during the entire audit by representatives from the CCA, Bundesministerium fur Gesundheit, Familie, und Jugend (BMGFJ), and representatives from the provincial and local inspection offices. This audit was a special emphasis audit with the objective to determine whether Austria was operating a meat inspection system equivalent to the United States in order to reinstate Austria's eligibility to export meat products to the United States. This included an evaluation of the performance of the CCA with respect to government controls over the (a) two processing establishments that have requested to be certified by the CCA as eligible to export pork products to the United States, and (b) a German government laboratory selected by the CCA to perform microbiological analytical testing of meat products destined for the United States. In pursuit of the objective, the following sites were visited: the headquarters of the CCA, the provincial headquarters, the district office, and two processing establishments seeking approval to export product to the United States.