Supermarket food profiteering criticised
The party’s agriculture and food spokesperson, Dr Mary Upton, made the claim after the IFA warned that it will expose what it described as the exorbitant margins supermarkets are taking for food products at the
expense of farmers. She said farmers had endured a dramatic fall in the share of the price consumers pay for their produce but there had been no attempt whatsoever by the Government to do anything about it.
“There has been report after report about the way in which profiteering by supermarkets on agricultural produce has spiralled in recent years. Irish consumers now pay 10% more than other Europeans for food.
“But these developments have met with deafening silence from the Government, which has a duty to protect consumers as well as the food producers from price rip-offs by large supermarkets,” she said.
Dr. Upton said the IFA had pointed to a 20% drop in the share of the consumer prices which is obtained by farmers.
This type of margin can only be passed on to the middlemen and retail outlets who are involved in distributing and selling the products.
Such rampant profiteering at the expense of consumers and producers was wholly unacceptable, the Labour Deputy said.
Dr Upton said the Competition Authority would remain as toothless as it has been unless the State provides it with the necessary resources and personnel to stamp out these practices in the retail industry.
“These developments also amplify the pressing need to establish a separate Department of Food, which can deal with these problems more coherently than in the existing departmental structures.
“It is no longer sufficient to have food consumers’ rights and food producers’ rights in conflict within one Department,” said Deputy Upton.
