Small food producers killing their own animals for meat, butchers and small abattoirs will be forced to pay for the cost of their follow-up inspections, according to a draft proposal seen by the Irish Farmers Journal.

The proposal has been put forward by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), which is seeking to cut the cost of funding to local authority vets who provide inspection services.

Under the proposal, inspections would be cut from 3,750 a year to 1,593 a year and any follow-up inspection for non-compliance would have to be paid for by the food producer.

In another document seen by the Irish Farmers Journal, local authority vets counter that the cost of inspections will hurt small food producers, most of which are family-owned.

Vets also point out that the FSAI does not take into account that Brexit means that 37% of small food producers will require at least one inspection a week in order to continue exporting food products to the UK.

The dispute is the latest in a long line ?over of rows funding from the FSAI to local authority vets which almost ground the system to a complete halt last year.