'Country of origin key to food success'
COUNTRY of origin labelling is the secret to saving the Irish food industry and protecting farmers from exploitation. So declared former Food Minister Ned O'Keeffe, TD, in a wide ranging and controversial address to the Dail during a debate on Bord Bia, and on its proposed merger with Bord Glas.
He was reprimanded on two occasions by the Leas Ceann Comhairle, for holding up packets of Denny and Galtee rashers. Deputy O'Keeffe called for a national food agency, the appointment of a consumer, preferably a woman, as chairperson of Bord Bia, and he warned that the Rip Van Winkle attitude to agriculture in Ireland must change. He said the Bord Bia bill now going through the Oireachtas does not go anywhere near what is needed to develop, promote or market the Irish food industry.
