Professor warns on future of food safety standards

SUPERMARKETS will eventually have to pay for “Rolls Royce” standards of food supplies, one of the country’s leading food safety experts warned last night.

Professor Patrick Wall of University College Dublin and chairman of the European Food Safety Authority, highlighted what he termed as the inherent conflict between supermarkets forcing down the price they pay suppliers for food while at the same time insisting on the highest standards of quality and traceability.

Speaking at the opening of the annual conference of the Agricultural Science Association in Trim, Co Meath, he said supermarkets will eventually have to pay for both the product and the reassurance that high standards bring.