Public wary of food from outside EU

OVER half of all consumers have expressed concern about the safety of food imported into Ireland from outside the EU, a new survey has revealed.

Research by Safefood, the state agency promoting food safety, shows that 54% of people are worried about imported fresh meat and fish as well as poor regulations and food production standards in non-EU countries.

However, Safefood, said such concerns were largely misplaced as food products sourced outside the EU were subjected to similar testing as that on foods produced within the EU.

“While consumers may prefer local foods, they should be reassured that imported foods go through a series of rigorous checks at border inspection posts before they are allowed into the EU, said Safefood spokesperson Dr Aileen McGloin.

She pointed out that there has been only one unconfirmed outbreak of food poisoning associated with food imported from outside the EU over the past five years.

Dr McGloin said products like Brazilian beef, which was the subject of a major controversy last year after a campaign by Irish farmers, could only have been imported into Ireland following approval by EU food safety inspectors.

Dr McGloin said consumers believed there was an increased risk of contamination with the distance food had to travel.

The survey showed they would welcome more transparent information on the origin of food products as existing data was often seen as misleading and unclear

Dr McGloin said under current EU legislation, food products including beef, veal, fish, shellfish, wine, fruit, vegetables, honey and olive oil as well as poultry sourced from outside the EU must be labelled with information about their origin.

Safefood said there was room for improvement in relation to other food products as country of origin labelling was not currently compulsory.