Beef exports to the UK - Minister must deal with issue

Plans by British retailers to change the specifications of beef they are willing to buy could have serious consequences for Ireland’s agriculture industry. The price farmers get for beef has already fallen by €200 per animal in the past year.

Now retailers are using the 2012 horsemeat scandal as an excuse to impose more rigorous specifications on Irish beef.

According to Padraig Browne, the group procurement director of Dunbia meat group, Irish beef farmers are now suffering the direct result of the fallout from the horsemeat scandal 18 months ago which has resulted in British retailers increasing their preference for British beef and changing the specifications of the beef they are willing to buy.