Equine database is welcome

Consumer confidence in meat products will be boosted by the Department of Agriculture’s decision to establish a central, equine database on the Animal Identification and Movement (AIM) system, which contains data on cattle, sheep and pigs.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, has confirmed he will centralise the power to issue passports for horses into one, single body.

The Minister had stated this at the height of the horse-meat scandal, and, clearly, this is now to be realised.