Import of UK milk raises fears for integrity of Irish product
The trend has been called a consumer confidence issue, while industry heavyweights question labelling and product compatibility.
A spokeswoman for the National Dairy Council said that, in respect of consumers, clarity had to be “reinforced”.
ICMSA president John Comer said Irish processors have adopted a contradictory attitude and that inconsistencies when adhering to quality assurance schemes must be addressed.
“The Irish farmer’s concern is not with UK milk but with the contradictory attitude being taken by our processors and we believe that this inconsistency needs to be addressed — either the milk must come from this specific scheme or not,” said Mr Comer.
“The concern Irish dairy farmers have at present is that the processors in Ireland have informed their suppliers that all milk must come from quality assured farms signed up to a specific scheme but, at the same time, they are importing milk that is not approved under this specific scheme.”
Cormac Browne, a dairy farmer from Co Kildare, said: “When you are buying a product labelled Irish, you want to know that it is what it says it is — a product produced in Ireland, not produced somewhere else.”
The concerns follow an audit carried out by Chinese authorities at dairy processing plants in Britain and Ireland in recent weeks — a process which failed to meet the authority’s requirements on the British side and led to import restrictions on British cheese.
However, Irish exports passed the audit with flying colours, so our €170m per year dairy exports to China continue.
The UK Department of Agriculture said nothing raised in the audit posed a threat to consumer safety and that moves were being made to address corrections highlighted. They also stated that they did not know the “exact details of Ireland’s agricultural policy” but had no concerns in relation to the export volumes.
CSO figures for January and February this year show that imports of milk totalled more than 90.3m litres in the two months.
This was a significant rise on 2013, when imports for the same period stood at 52.5m litres. The figure for 2012 was 50.5m litres.
Imports from England, Scotland, and Wales for the period amounted to 9.28m litres, up from 4.26m litres for the first two months of 2013, and 3.98m litres for the period in 2012.
The increased level of milk imports comes despite Irish dairy farmers facing huge superlevy fines and as Britain struggles with processing capacity.
Imports from the North accounted for 81m litres during January and February compared to 48m litres in 2013. Northern processors have about a 25% share of our drinking milk market south of the border.
