'No risk to food safety' in wake of payout

A senior vet at the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) said there is no risk to food safety after a whistleblower won a £1.25m settlement.

Dr Tamara Bronckaers resigned in 2018 after raising concerns about animal welfare and tracking failures in the meat supply chain.

She went on to win an employment case against the department.

But Nigel Trimble said consumers had nothing to worry about.

"I need to reassure people that markets are inspected, we do have welfare enforcement policies, we have got fraud risk policy management and things so DAERA does an awful lot along with the industry to ensure that we have safe food," the senior principal veterinary officer told BBC Radio Ulster's Farming Matters.

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"I would like to reassure the public that there is no risk to food safety from what has come out over the last number of weeks."

In September 2021, an industrial tribunal found Dr Bronckaers had been constructively dismissed.

The department dropped its appeal against that decision earlier this month.

On Monday, it issued a statement in which it apologised to Dr Bronckaers for the "hurt and distress caused".

In a statement issued by her solicitors, she said the last few years had been "extremely harrowing" and she could now "move on in the knowledge that I did what was right".