Irish organisations failing local food producers — IFA
John Bryan, president, was speaking at the National Ploughing Championships, where he launched the results of an IFA countrywide survey.
Taxpayers’ money is underpinning the work of those surveyed, he said, stressing that the IFA feels very strongly the food industry should be supported in return.
“The Defence Forces, in particular, has a very poor record in buying Irish. One-third of its beef is sourced outside the Republic and none of its bacon is sourced here,” he said.
Mr Bryan also criticised the health services and claimed some of the biggest offenders are hospitals, whose record on buying Irish is at odds, he said, with official HSE policy.
Mr Bryan said the HSE, which spends €32m a year on food, responded to the IFA survey and said the standard sought from suppliers “should reach at a minimum An Bord Bia Quality Assurance Programme or equivalent quality assurance scheme”.
“Yet, individual hospitals cite availability and price as the reasons for sourcing from abroad. Clearly, there is disconnect between what the HSE says it does and what hospitals decide when sourcing food,” he said.
Mr Bryan said there was a trend in some of the replies to the survey to pass responsibility over to outside catering companies, which is unacceptable.
“All organisations have to take responsibility for the food that is ordered. UCD, the largest third-level college in the country, is guilty of Pontius Pilate-like behaviour in placing the onus on their contractors,” he said.
Mr Bryan said the IFA issued a questionnaire in July to 165 bodies — from hospitals to Government Departments to third-level colleges — to ascertain their commitment to local producers when purchasing food products.
The questionnaire asked what is the country of origin of the food products used by the various organisations. It listed beef, lamb, ham, pork, bacon, chicken, eggs, milk, potatoes, vegetables and fruit.
He said the survey asked if catering was done in-house or out-sourced. It also asked if steps had been taken since the DNA episode to ensure the traceability and labelling of all meat products are accurate.
On chicken and pork products, Mr Bryan said, 61% of respondents said they bought some outside of the Republic, with only 39% committing fully to local producers.
A total of 91% of respondents said they had taken steps since the DNA episode to ensure the traceability and labelling of all meat.
Asked about the survey, Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney said bodies had to abide by public procurement rules and EU competition law.
“We can’t require caterers to source all of their food in Ireland. Let’s not forget that Ireland is a big exporter of food too and if other countries took the view that they would only consume home-based product we would have no food and drink sector.
“Some 85% of everything we produce has to find a market and a consumer outside Ireland. So let’s put things in context.
“Of course we should be encouraging both the consumption and purchase of Irish produce here because it’s the best, not purely because it’s produced at home.”
