Consumers buying Irish bacon and pork

CONSUMERS are back buying Irish bacon and pork in shops and supermarkets after last week’s product recall.

The vote of confidence in the meat is also being reflected in the renewal of orders for the estimated 1.5 million hams that will be consumed for the traditional Christmas dinner.

It is clear the assurances from the European Food Safety Authority and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and other experts that there are no public health issues involved in consuming Irish pork products has been accepted by consumers.

The feedback from the retail sector supports findings from Bord Bia research conducted among consumers last week.

These indicated that consumers were reassured by the swiftness of the response by the authorities to the pig meat crisis and appeared to rate the potential economic impact ahead of concerns over health and safety issues.

Bord Bia, which has distributed more than three million specially designed pork and bacon approved labels to approved pig meat processors nationwide, said it was delighted with the positive response from both the trade and consumers.

Ireland market manager Teresa Brophy said Bord Bia has been in regular contact with key retailers to update them on the approval process for the new label.

“The label reassures consumers on the safety of Irish pork and bacon and retailers have reported a significant demand for approved product,” she said.

Regarding pig meat export markets, Bord Bia said it was too early to assess the precise impact of the recall on future trading levels. Irish pig meat exports are predominantly in the form of ingredients for further processing.

Bord Bia said it will continue to work with the trade to rebuild confidence in Irish pig meat among its key customers. A full resumption of trade within European markets, which account for almost 90% of the industry’s exports, is an urgent priority.

Russia and China, which represents under 4% of total Irish pig meat exports, have suspended this trade.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Times reported yesterday the level of toxins in the Irish pig feed samples analysed by the British Central Science Laboratory in York were more than 5,000 times the EU limit and were too high to measure at first.

Scientists conducted further tests, after alerting the Irish authorities to the extreme contamination of both feed and pig fat samples, which were found to have 80-200 times the EU level for dioxins, it said.

Consumers have been repeatedly assured by national and international experts that a short-term exposure to dioxins does not result in adverse health effects and they should not be concerned or alarmed.