Pork crisis may force label change
Explaining why a total, rather than partial, pork recall was ordered after the discovery of dioxin contamination, Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith told the Dáil that when a pig is slaughtered and processed, the meat goes in many directions. The Irish identification system is in accordance with the EU regulations.
“Pigs are identified by farm of origin, they are not identified individually,” he said.
However, a customer may sometimes require specific traceability for the primal cuts. “If a big customer for a plant had a particular requirement for absolute traceability in regard to all primal cuts, there could be a production line devoted entirely to one particular customer or it could be a half day’s slaughtering, processing or whatever,” he said.
Ireland’s pork dioxin crisis may put more pressure on EU regulators to change their meat labelling rules — which do not require food manufacturers in the EU to specify the country from which their ingredients are sourced.
For example, meat from pigs reared and slaughtered in Ireland or elsewhere can be labelled ‘Made in the UK’ or ‘Produced in the UK’, if final processing took place there.
This led to confusion in Britain over origin of meat products, during the scare.
Food Minister Trevor Sargent said the commission has insisted that in labelling negotiations Irish pork is EU pork, and it should therefore respond to our crisis. “I believe EU money is well justified in this instance,” he said.
