Walsh attacks traceability inspectorate
IFA President Padraig Walsh has alleged there is a compliance rate of less than one-third with the requirement for source of origin labelling on all meat products in retail outlets which became law in 2006.
Speaking at the AGM of Limerick County IFA, he called for the transfer of SFP inspectors to monitor compliance instead of spending up to four and a half days on individual farms completing a report which has become a nightmare of bureaucracy.
He said: “The responsibility for inspection was given to the Food Safety Authority and to date there has not been one prosecution.
“We know from the surveys that we have carried out around the country that there is less than 30% of outlets labelling beef in various restaurants and establishments up and down the country.
“We have met the Food Safety Authority and we are meeting them again within the next week, and we will be putting pressure on for more monitoring because we know that beef is being imported at a time when prices to farmers is under pressure.
“It is the responsibility of the minister who handed over the task to the Food Safety Authority.
“If they are short of people to do the work why the hell are they not using some of the inspectors who are out there annoying farmers to do the job of inspecting the records on the food labelling.
“They would be much better employed and would do a lot more for the industry if they were to do that.
“I have already written to the minister on that point”.
Mr Walsh warned that the campaign against the unacceptable level of bureaucracy on the SFP inspections will be intensified over the coming weeks in the lead in to the election because farmers cannot continue to tolerate the practice.
The IFA was not prepared to concede on the requirement for 14 days notice of inspection and a more simplified report with a copy of the inspectors report for the farmer on completion of the inspection before leaving the farm.
He said that a farm inspection in the minister’s own Donegal constituency had taken four and a half days to complete and changes will have to be made to provide a simpler system.
As part of the campaign, thousands of copies of the inspection report are now being circulated throughout the country. It comes complete with a pointed message — “The following 66-page document is the bureaucracy and red-tape in the official Department of Agriculture Farm Inspection Check-List.
