Organic shop a ‘disgrace to market’

A SHOPOWNER convicted of labelling chicken as organic when it was not has been accused of disgracing his fellow traders in Cork’s English Market.

Marc O’Mahony, trading as the Organic Shop in the market, was fined €2,000 plus €400 costs for displaying chicken pieces under a sign which said “Organic Shop” when the chicken was found not to be organic, on December 13, 2004.

During the court hearing, the Department of Agriculture, whose inspection lead to the court hearing, told how Mr O’Mahony explained to its inspector that when he could not secure an organic product he would, in an exceptional case, get a non-organic one.

Yesterday, his fellow trader, Sean Calder-Potts said: “Most of the stallholders in the market work very hard to achieve and hold a high level of trust between them and their customers. Marc O’Mahony has betrayed that trust and disgraced, not only himself, but the whole market.”

The Department of Agriculture confirmed last year that Mr O’Mahony’s premises had been the subject of investigations on occasions between 2004 and 2005 and there had been a series of non-compliance with labelling standards.

Notwithstanding these investigations, Mr O’Mahony had not been convicted on any occasion previously for breaches of the food regulations pertaining to labelling.

On December 12, 2005, four batches of poultry meat, including duck, goose and turkey portions, were seized at Mr O’Mahony’s premises in Douglas mainly due to a lack of accurate labelling, and therefore having no traceability, and also due to the product being past its sell-by date. Two batches of poultry meat were seized during an inspection at the English Market.

“The inspections were a follow-up to inspections during the year and, in particular, a series of non-compliances with labelling standards found last year,” the department said at the time.

Mr Calder-Potts said this week’s court action was a victory on behalf of the “unwitting, duped customers,” adding he would be writing to the Minister for Agriculture to congratulate him on their success.

“Some (traders) have been doing this for generations. I have been doing it for over 13 years. Newcomers to the market can benefit from the reputations we have worked so hard to achieve, just by being our neighbours.

“I would like to advise consumers to beware that a shop name does not necessarily indicate an accurate description of the goods on sale.

“This was a case where the word “organic” was used as a marketing tool to sell non-organic products at the premium prices commanded by organic products.”