Department verify beef in question was Irish

The Department of Agriculture and Food said yesterday it was satisfied the beef served at an official function it hosted last month was Irish and not Brazilian.

It was responding to an Irish Farmers Journal (IFJ) report that the origin of a sample of beef served at the function in Agriculture House, Dublin, had proven in an independent test to be non-European, most likely Brazilian.

But the Department said the supplier of the beef for the event had provided documentary evidence that it was “derived from cattle born, bred and slaughtered in the Republic of Ireland”.