Food labelling loophole ‘deceiving’ consumers

CONSUMERS are being deceived because a loophole in labelling laws is being used to pass off meat from South America and Asia as Irish produce, Fine Gael’s Agriculture spokesman Denis Naughten has claimed.

Mr Naughten said a lack of “joined-up Government” and EU labelling laws means catering establishments are able to label food from other countries as Irish.

“Currently, beef from Brazil, lamb from New Zealand, chicken from Thailand and pork from Chile is being passed off as Irish, and due to the current labelling laws in this country there is nothing illegal about it,” he said.

The misleading labelling is possible because under Irish and European law produce which comes from abroad but is “substantially transformed” in Ireland can be labelled as Irish.

Although the Government has promised to bring forward an amendment to the Health Act of 1970 to rectify the anomaly, no date has yet been set for the legislation.

In addition, any new legislation will have to wait agreement in Europe as to what exactly constitutes “substantially transformed” food. Until agreement is reached, food from any non-European nation that is processed in a member state can be relabelled as European with no reference to its source.

Mr Naughten said the issue was of particular concern since the high standards applied in Europe may not apply, and could not be verified, elsewhere.

“Irish consumers should not have to tolerate this type of deception, which is allowing product from outside the EU, and which may not be produced to the same high standards, to be pawned off as EU produce.

“Not only that, but such ambiguity has the potential to threaten our biosecurity and consumer confidence in Irish food products,” he said. Despite that danger, Mr Naughten said neither the Department of Health nor the Department of Agriculture seemed to consider the matter urgent.

“The Minister for Agriculture gives the impression that this legislation is a priority in the Tánaiste’s Department but, judging by the Health Minister’s responses to me in the Dáil, there is a distinct absence of urgency around country of origin labeling,” he said.