IFA calls for code of practice to regulate retail food sector

A CODE of practice for the regulation of the retail food sector to ensure an equitable share for farmers in final retail prices was sought by the Irish Farmers Association yesterday.

IFA president Padraig Walshe said a 2007 report by the Department of Food Business and Development in UCC, identified a huge and widening discrepancy between producer and retail prices. As a result, producers were being forced to produce below the cost of production.

“If this is not addressed, by way of a code of practice, we will end up with less food produced within Europe and thereby more dependent on unregulated imports,” he said.