asked the Minister for Agriculture if he is aware that there is large scale misdescription of fruit at the moment on sale in Dublin, and that "outspan" oranges which come from South Africa are being shown as originating from such countries as Spain and Uruguay; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Goods Description.
433.
I am not aware that there is large scale misdescription of fruit on sale in Dublin at present. Most of the oranges on the market at present are of South African origin with smaller quantities from Uruguay and Spain. Two cases of incorrect labelling of South African fruit were found by my Department inspectors in recent weeks and these were corrected on instructions from the inspector.
434.
asked the Minister for Agriculture 1 (a) if he will provide details of the EEC regulations which lay down the rules on the duties of shops to display a notice giving the country of origin of goods on sale, especially fruit and vegetables; the machinery for the enforcement of these regulations that exists in Ireland; the number of occasions in the past five years that this machinery has been used; and the number of prosecutions for breaches of the regulations in the past five years.
Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1035/72 on the common organisation of the market in fruit and vegetables prescribes the labelling requirements for products for which common quality standards have been established. These requirements include the obligation to indicate the origin of the produce. At retail stage, where produce is displayed in the original package, the particulars on the label must be clearly visible. If the produce is removed from the container and offered for sale unpackaged, the retailer must display with the goods a show card giving the labelling particulars in clear characters.
The legal instrument for enforcing the Regulation is the European Communities (Fruit and Vegetables) Regulations, 1973 (SI No. 20 of 1973). Inspections at all levels of trade are carried out on an ongoing basis by authorised officers of the Department of Agriculture. More than 40,000 visits were made to retail premises over the past five years and 30 retailers were prosecuted for various breaches of the regulations.