asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the 12th Joint WHO/FAO Report (1969) concerning antibiotic residues in food products; and if he is satisfied that the present quality of Irish food is well within international standards.
Written Answers. - WHO/FAO Report.
384.
I am aware of the 12th Report of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. This report deals with specifications for the identity and purity of certain antibiotics and their toxicological evaluation. The report was compiled by the Joint Expert Committee in July 1968 and was published by the World Health Organisation in 1969.
The recommendations contained in the report were taken into account by the Food Advisory Committee in its 1971 report on antibiotics in food. The report of the Food Advisory Committee formed the basis for measures undertaken during the 1970s by the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture to minimise the presence of residues in foodstuffs for human consumption. There is no evidence to suggest that antibiotic residues in Irish foodstuffs posed a particular problem at that time.
The FAO/WHO report was prepared 15 years ago but I have asked the Food Advisory Committee to review the current position about antiboitics in food. I expect to have this report in the near future.