Call for state agency to monitor animal feed

A new state agency to monitor animal feed must be set up to prevent a reoccurrence of December’s pork contamination crisis, it was claimed today.

A dioxin scare that was traced to a food recycling plant in Co Carlow forced retailers to remove all pork stock from their shelves and consumers were told to bin products in their fridges.

The Oireachtas Agriculture & Food Committee today published a report which called for the Government to reverse last October’s Budget proposal to merge the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) with the Irish Medicines Board and the Office of Tobacco Control.

It believes a single agency responsible for food and animal feed should be established.

The all-party body also said that a 10% incidence of dioxin contamination should not have sparked a 100% recall of all pork products.

Committee chairman Johnny Brady added: “The failure to have an effective traceability regime means the Irish taxpayer may end up paying financial aid to processors for non-Irish pork.

“The fact that the recall occurred in the busy pre-Christmas period meant that the sector suffered significant losses in both domestic and export markets.”

The Government set up a €250m fund to compensate processors and farmers and 30% of this has already been paid out.

The committee also said it was unacceptable that the food recycling plant at the centre of the contamination incident had not been inspected at all in 2008 by Department of Agriculture inspectors.

“While holding a permit from Carlow Co Council, it was not inspected by the Council at all since being issued with its permit in 2006.

“This graphically illustrates the point that while the FSAI has primary responsibility for food safety it does not currently have the required legal authority to police all aspects of the food and feed chain,” added the report.

The all-party body held 15 meetings during January and heard testimony from 50 witnesses including food safety experts, Government ministers and officials and pork industry representatives.

The committee noted that the pork meat industry is worth about €1bno to the economy every year and employs 7,000 people.

In 2007, some 188,000 tonnes of pigmeat products were produced in Ireland, of which 130,000 tonnes – worth €368m – was exported.

Fine Gael TD Sean Sherlock said: “One clear recommendation by the committee is the need to ensure that the remit of FSAI should be extended to cover both food and feed.

“If there was a service contract under the FSAI, then it is my view that the plant where the contamination took place would have been inspected, and this catastrophe could have been avoided.”

The report will be sent to Agriculture and Food Minister Brendan Smith TD for consideration.

Fine Gael’s food spokesman Michael Creed said: “People are used to the phrase, ’you are what you eat’ but it is important to also remember, when it comes to the animal feed chain, we are what they eat.

“Presently the maze of agencies responsible is confusing and lacks coherence and focus.”