Eve, veterinary medicine graduate and Official Veterinarian (OV)

Can you explain what an Official Veterinarian (OV) is?

We are responsible for delivering official controls in slaughterhouses, which means monitoring animal welfare and food hygiene as well as enforcing legislation relevant to this where necessary to ensure compliance. I studied at the University of Bristol and decided to stay to work in this area of the Southwest. I work for a company which is contracted by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to deliver official controls. I typically work in slaughterhouses (poultry and red meat) and game handling establishments (handling wild game species such as deer, wild boar and game birds). 

Why did you choose to go into this career?

I chose to go into a career as an Official Veterinarian because I have a keen interest in animal welfare and pathology. Working in veterinary public health allows me to combine these two interests: I am able to have a very direct impact on animal welfare as well as having a role in identifying and supporting the control of different diseases significant to public health. I also wanted to have the opportunity to contribute towards positive change in the meat industry.

What is the best part of your role?

The most rewarding part of my role is knowing how far reaching my impact can be. OV’s are on the frontline for food safety and animal welfare within the meat industry in the UK, and the work done by us in conjunction with meat inspectors directly impacts millions of people within the UK and the rest of the world through exports. I also enjoy being a part of such an important industry: ensuring food safety and animal welfare, and the potential to make a difference is huge.

What does a typical day as an OV involve?

A typical day in my job involves performing inspections of animals that arrive at the abattoir to check for notifiable disease, potential welfare issues and conditions which may render an animal unfit for human consumption. I will then carry out welfare checks on the processing of animals, and support meat hygiene inspectors with postmortem inspections to certify the meat as fit for human consumption. Throughout the day I will also carry out official controls and hygiene verification, delivering the appropriate enforcement action where deficiencies are identified. 

Do you have any advice for those interested in becoming a vet?

Advice I would give to anyone wanting to join the veterinary profession is to keep an open mind to all of the opportunities available to you. Veterinary medicine spans such a broad range of different subjects so I would suggest trying as many different disciplines as you can within the subject; there are so many different career options beyond the typical idea of what a veterinary surgeon is or can do.