Food scares - Our beef is as good as it ever was

THOUSANDS of livelihoods in jeopardy in a shrinking labour market; businesses built up over generations under threat days before Christmas; our meat industry fighting for what remains of its priceless credibility; the prospect of a beggared exchequer having to pay millions in compensation without little or no EU support; China bans our pork, Italy our beef.

Can it get much worse? Startlingly, the chilling answer is that it could. And it may unless our much-vaunted beef traceability scheme stands up to the sternest scrutiny.

This great difficulty is just one more calamity in the litany of woe faced by us all and our political leadership. And all because one relatively minor cog in the whole process used the wrong kind of oil to heat surplus food in the preparation of animal feeds.

Announcing yesterday afternoon that out of 11 beef herds tested only three were above the permissible limit for PCBs the Minister for Agriculture, Brendan Smith, said animals from those herds will not reach the food chain. The beleaguered minister insisted that the levels of contamination do not represent a threat and that consumers have nothing to fear from eating Irish beef.

Though the parallels between yesterday’s situation and the weekend pork recall could not be more similar the minister says there will not be any recall of beef. Though producers, processors, retailers and very many consumers will be relieved it is difficult to reconcile the contrasting reactions even though the EU yesterday approved of the decision.

Consumers may or may not decide to accept Mr Smith’s reassurances and continue to eat Irish beef but it is far less likely that hard-won European, Middle Eastern and eastern European consumers will opt for Irish beef when there are so many alternatives.

It is difficult to underestimate the impact a collapse in beef sales would have on whole swathes of rural Ireland. The meat industry represents almost 27% of gross agricultural output (GAP). In 2007 GAP was valued at €€5.67 billion. Cattle and beef accounted for 26%, pig meat for 5% and sheep for 3%. The sector directly employs about 10,000 people and as many more again in support services. Shipments to Britain are worth about €1.5bn. Exporters already under pressure because of weak sterling will find it more difficult to sustain their trade there because of this manmade crisis. This is even more disappointing as last year exports to EU markets recorded their sixth consecutive year of growth. Shipments were worth an estimated €775 million. The principal growth in trade was with the Netherlands, France and eastern Europe.

All of this progress is in jeopardy and if Mr Smith’s faith in out traceability schemes is betrayed then we will face a real crisis. We have invested huge resources in this scheme and the time has come for it to prove its worth.

It is not so very long ago that farmer representatives returned from South America and, in an effort to curb competition from there, told us that Brazilian producers could not offer the same guarantees on traceability as Irish farmers could and therefore we should not buy their beef.

If any flaw in our system is revealed we will face the same charges and Irish farming will be put back 10 years.

We can take comfort in the fact that the contamination levels are so very low and that our excellent beef is as good as it ever was.