IFA: Misleading labelling on food products must be stopped

CONSUMERS are being duped into buying imported pork and chicken by misleading labelling, the IFA argued at a Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise yesterday.

IFA president John Bryan told the committee: “The supermarkets are putting products from outside the EU on their shelves with green labels and the word ‘Irish’ written on them. The consumer presumes the word ‘Irish’ means produced here, and not just bagged in Ireland.

“Several major retailers are totally blatant with their misleading labelling on chicken and pork. We want clear and transparent labelling.

“Our message to Minister Batt O’Keeffe is to introduce a statutory code of practice for retailers.

“We want a code with proper policing and proper fines. There’s no point introducing a code unless it is backed by enforcement and fines.

“We’ve already seen that retailers pay scant attention to voluntary codes.”

The IFA also demanded that local authorities should block any expansion plans by supermarket multiples until the statutory code of practice for the retail sector is in place.

It argues that the over-capacity in retail is contributing to pushing retail prices below the farmers’ production costs.

Average annual farm incomes stood at €13,000 last year, according to CSO figures. The IFA says the multiples have margins of 10%, sustained by paying farmers extremely low prices for their produce.

Mr Bryan added: “We’re selling our product for the same prices we were getting 30 years ago. The costs of energy, fuel and labour all keep going up. Everything is going up bar the price the retailers are paying to the primary producer.

“We are saying a lack of control of the marketplace has given the retailers a dominance that they are abusing. Irish farmers have to comply with very demanding EU regulations, yet the retailers are making us compete with imports that don’t face the same costly regulations.”

The IFA believes that this anomaly can be rectified by clear labelling and a statutory code of practice.

It wants the Government and the EU Commission to accelerate their plans to regulate the sector as the multiples continue to take more profit out of the food supply chain.

The IFA president said the new statutory code of practice promised by the Government must enshrine the principle of fair trade for farmers in the grocery trade by providing a means for the more equitable shareout of the consumer price across the food chain.

Mr Bryan concluded: “The withdrawal of David Byrne as a facilitator must not delay implementation of the code of practice, and Enterprise Minister Batt O’Keeffe must move immediately to return equity to the food supply chain.”