In slaughterhouses, official veterinarians (OVs) bear the primary responsibility for official control comprising meat and food safety inspections (European Union [EU], 2004a). The goal of meat inspection, which may be performed with assistance from official auxiliaries (OAs), is to ensure safe meat for consumers, secure the welfare of animals, and prevent transmissible animal diseases ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 3 (Alban, Steenberg, Stephensen, Olsen, & Petersen, 2011; European Food Safety Authority [EFSA], 2011; EU, 2004a). Meat inspection consists of the inspection of food chain information, live animals (ante-mortem inspection), and carcasses and offal (post-mortem inspection). In Finland, OAs 60 perform post-mortem inspection under the supervision of the OVs in red meat and poultry slaughterhouses. Food safety inspections are performed to verify slaughterhouses’ compliance with food safety legislation including proper implementation of slaughterhouses’ obligatory self-checking 63 systems (SCSs). These SCSs are based on basic hygiene and hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) principles (EU, 2004c). A well-implemented SCS ensures, for instance, adequate process hygiene (Blagojevic & Antic, 2014; Food and Agriculture Organization, 2004), thus contributing to meat safety (Blagojevic & Antic, 2014; Nørrung & Buncic, 2008). In practice, food safety inspections entail a comprehensive examination of various areas, such as maintenance and hygiene of premises and equipment, temperature control, and employee practices. In Finland, OVs perform food safety inspections, but OAs could participate by collecting information regarding good 70 hygienic practices and HACCP-based procedures (EU, 2004a).