Expert elicitation of remote meat inspection prerequisites in Sweden using best-worst scaling (case 1)

Abstract

Remote work technologies offer unprecedented flexibility to modernise official meat inspection (MI). Remote meat inspections, alongside on-site controls have a potential to make MI more sustainable when it comes to working conditions, logistic control hurdles and travel-related emissions. Nevertheless, preferences of meat control staff for features and technological set up of remote MI remain unknown.The paper investigates preferences of official Swedish MI staff for different features of remote MI. The study utilises a quantitative method, namely best-worst scaling to compare the relative importance of six aspects of remote inspections: camera location and settings, connectivity, availability of personnel at abattoirs, communication and language, security and fraud prevention, and ability to relay olfaction and haptics. The survey, administered in September–October 2023 was answered by 54.7% of the Swedish meat control staff employed by the Swedish Food Agency. The results show that respondents rate security and fraud prevention (Security) as the most important aspect for remote MI followed by connectivity and camera placement (Camera). Communication and language (Communication) and ability to relay olfaction and haptics (Senses) are considered the least important aspects. The latter findings can be explained by the fact that Official Veterinarians, which represent the majority of respondents (49%), do not routinely communicate directly with slaughter personnel who are often seasonal workers coming from outside Sweden. Moreover, olfaction and haptics could be considered naturally impractical with remote technologies. The study also finds that respondents from different administrative units and job titles have different preferences for the features of remote MI. Respondents from the headquarter generally have higher preferences for connectivity than respondents from other units. Additionally, respondents with more hands-on experience in MI, such as Official Veterinarians, tend to rate security issues higher than respondents with leading or support roles. Overall, it seems possible to meet the control staff expectations and preferences regarding the prerequisites of remote MI by legal and technical adaptations needed for this type of control flexibility.