Mislabelling a major issue of concern
It aims to ensure that foreign beef, poultry and fish products are not being mislabelled and sold as Irish, an issue that has raised concerns among farmers and consumers.
Another audit carried out in August and September by the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) found that beef samples taken from various outlets were labelled as Irish but turned out to be of South American origin when genetically tested.
The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) questioned the IFA investigation methods and stated that all of the hotels in question had assured it that the beef for sale in their premises had been purchased as Irish.
Catering outlets stress that their commitment to using quality assured locally produced food is reflected in their support for Feile Bia, the Bord Bia initiative that is backed by the Restaurants Association of Ireland, the IHF and the farming community.
However, it emerged during the public debate on the issue that EU labelling regulations do not presently cover beef sold in the catering trade. This is an area that surely requires attention.
Agriculture and Food Minister Joe Walsh.has pledged to pursue as a priority in the EU Farm Council the question of extending the labelling regulations to include catering.
It is absolutely essential that EU labelling requirements be applied to all beef sold on the domestic market, irrespective of origin.
Consumer confidence is dented if any outlet, knowingly or otherwise, charges high prices for mislabelled produce that may not be quality-assured. The EU Food and Veterinary Office (FVO), based at Grange, Co Meath, has a key food-quality policing task. Staff from the office carry out checks worldwide to ensure that EU rules on food, live animals and plant products are observed within the community itself and in countries exporting to it.
About 100 of the staff are inspectors, who carried out more than 200 rule enforcement checks in 52 different countries last year.
Last March, a team from the FVO visited meat plants in Brazil as part of their monitoring duties. It looked at controls governing foot-and-mouth disease, public health systems and certification procedures.
The team reported some control deficiencies relating to animal identification and movement and maturation processes, but the European Commission later indicated it was satisfied the most serious issues were being addressed. Imports into the EU from third countries must be sourced in premises and in countries that are approved by the Commission and subject to veterinary audits by the FVO.
Importers of meat into Ireland must be registered with the Department of Agriculture and Food and give advance notice of the arrival of meat, which must be accompanied by appropriate documentation. This must show the country and approval number of the production establishment, as well as a health certificate conforming to the models set down in EU legislation. The meat must also be labelled.
The enforcement agencies must continue to be alert and the EU itself must extent its own labelling regulations to the catering sector.
