NI producers ‘refusing to slaughter’
Traditionally up to 20,000 weanlings and forward stores have been exported to the north in the last quarter of the year and northern dealers are normally strong buyers in livestock marts all over the country, particularly in western and border counties.
Northern Ireland beef plants have reportedly instructed some suppliers not to continue to import southern cattle. In addition, it is believed there are several thousand southern cattle on farms in the north, for whom there is no apparent market.
ICOS explained that the reason for the market difficulty relates to new EU labelling requirements, which have applied since January 1. These state that the country of birth, the country of rearing and the country of slaughtering must be included on the label at the point of sale.
A number of British supermarkets have expressed their preference for labels that indicate that the animal was born, raised and slaughtered in the same country.
Therefore, ICOS explained, they will only purchase beef from animals which spent their entire life in the Republic or their entire life in Britain.
Fine Gael TD Denis Naughten asked Agriculture and Food Minister Joe Walsh in the Dáil what action he intends to take to ensure that store cattle from here and fattened in Northern Ireland will be killed by meat plants north of the border from December 1.
Mr Walsh said while it appears to be the case, for commercial reasons, that certain retail outlets in Britain give preference to beef from animals born, reared and slaughtered in the same country, he would be concerned that the newly introduced EU labelling rules should not weaken the internal market.
“If there is evidence of this, it is a matter for the EU Commission to re-examine the rules to ensure that traditional patterns of trade between member states are not distorted and I will ask the Commission to keep this matter under close review.”
