The measure sought to modify the traditional stowage of meat / télam
The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries will repeal the Resolution that established the retail marketing of beef in pieces of less than 32 kilograms, an obligation that was to come into effect from next January 15.
The definition was taken after a new meeting with the provinces within the framework of the Meat Technical Table, in which it was agreed to “advance joint work to attend to the health of workers in the sector and safety controls on meat products ”, it was officially reported.
As this newspaper reported in recent months, the initiative generated resistance in industry and commerce. They had even expressed themselves against the butchers of the City who warned about the increase in costs that a new method of presentation and transfer of the merchandise would mean.
Beyond the repeal of the obligation, it was reported that “Resolution 22/2021 of the Superintendence of Labor Risks (SRT) that establishes the maximum limit at 32 kilograms for the manual hauling of meat products will continue to be in force, and mechanical means must be used for parts that exceed that kilogram”.
In April 2021, the Government established through Joint Resolution 4 that the output of meat from refrigerators throughout the country, destined for retail businesses, could only be done in units resulting from the fractioning of half carcasses into pieces that cannot be exceed 32 kilos.
The measure, at the time, was signed by the then Ministries of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries; Labor, Employment and Social Security, and Productive Development.
Its implementation, originally stipulated for January 1, 2022, was later postponed to November 1 and then to January 15, 2023.
As indicated some time ago by the national director of Agrifood Safety and Quality of the National Agrifood Health and Quality Service (Senasa), Alejandro Fernández, one of the objectives of the initiative was “to prevent workers from continuing to unload half beef on the shoulder at butcher shops, having Keep in mind that they can weigh 120 kilos each”.
Despite leaving the chopping without effect and allowing the sale of larger pieces, the ratification that the Ministry of Agriculture made this week of Resolution 22/2021 of the SRT, aims to guarantee that the transportation of meat products greater than 32 kilograms is carried out through mechanical and non-manual means.
When the new measure became official, the head of the Cabinet of the Agriculture portfolio, Juan Manuel Fernández Arocena, highlighted “the agreement of all to advance in improvements that put an end to the human hauling of half cattle, as a meeting point to advance above the different criteria between what Agriculture proposes, and what is requested from the provinces and cold rooms”.
