LPA compliance during 2023

Audits are an important element in delivering assurance to the global and domestic markets that rely on the quality and safety of Australia’s red meat industry. As such, they form a crucial part of the Livestock Production Assurance (LPA) program and participation (if requested) is a condition of LPA Accreditation.

Audit outcomes also provide LPA accredited producers with valuable insights into how the industry is performing and identifying key areas of nonconformity, enabling them to benchmark their own performance.

Most common LPA compliance challenges in 2023

LPA Audits identify areas where improvements could be made by producers to meet the LPA Standards.

Commonly called nonconformities, these can be categorised as minor, major or critical – depending on the potential impact they could have on food safety, traceability, biosecurity or animal welfare.

Overall, the most common nonconformities identified during 2023 were:

• NLIS transfers not fully completed
• Animal treatments not recorded
• Incomplete National Vendor Declarations (NVDs) and/or copies of incoming NVDs not retained
• Biosecurity plans not documented
• Chemical use incorrectly recorded.
  
  

Corrective Action Requests (CAR)

Where audits have identified major nonconformities (those with the potential to compromise food safety, biosecurity or animal welfare), the auditor will issue a corrective action request and producers must take this corrective action to avoid losing their LPA Accreditation.

LPA suspensions

Where LPA Accreditation has been suspended, those producers are no longer permitted to use the LPA NVD when moving livestock and their Property Identification Code (PIC) status will show as ‘Not LPA Accredited’ on the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) Database.

A PIC that is identified as ‘Not LPA Accredited’ may find that saleyards and meat processors will no longer accept their livestock.

Following a suspension, a producer may be required to participate in additional audits to ensure that the issues have been addressed and not reoccurred, which may incur additional fees.

Critical nonconformities

Critical nonconformities present a clear risk to the integrity of our red meat system and, when discovered, LPA Accreditation is immediately suspended.

Examples of critical nonconformities include:

• Not keeping animal treatment and traceability records for over two years
• Incomplete NLIS transfers for over two years
• Using incorrect LPA NVDs for different PICs
• Not maintaining accurate records for use of ‘Hormone Growth Promotant’
• Repeatedly not using an accredited NLIS device to identify livestock before they move off a property.