Horse meat scandal - Industry must pay

Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney yesterday blamed “sloppy management and fraudulent behaviour” for the horse meat scandal that has done so much harm to the reputation of Irish food producers.

It might have been more appropriate if he had used words like greed and criminality because that is what was involved. This is especially so as so many jobs, and so much of our economic recovery, is dependent on an internationally successful food industry.

Mr Coveney said food controls would have to be extended to include checks for food authenticity. It is inevitable that the costs incurred by doing this will be passed to consumers but some way must be found to ensure that the food industry shares those costs.