Vol. 524 No. 6
92 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the monitoring and surveillance systems in place or planned by his Department or any body under the aegis of his Department to ensure traceability, quality assurance and verifiable standards and safety of Irish food; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23454/00]
My Department operates a wide range of monitoring and surveillance systems to ensure traceability, quality assurance and verifiable standards and safety of Irish food. At farm level, the measures cover animal registration and identification, disease control, animal health and welfare, animal feed, animal remedies and environmental protection. At processing level, all processing establishments operate according to licensing or approval systems under the control and supervision of the Department, or, in the case of establishments producing solely for the domestic market, under the control and supervision of the local authorities. The animal feed sector is also regulated.
The Deputy will be aware that the Government established the Food Safety Authority of Ireland which has primary responsibility for the protection of public health by ensuring that food consumed, distributed, marketed or produced in the State meets the highest standards of food safety and hygiene.
Specific initiatives taken by my Department include the continued operation of disease eradication schemes, the establishment of the computerised cattle movement monitoring system – CMMS – the introduction of the dairy hygiene scheme, the development of a national beef assurance scheme, the operation of HACCP systems at meat production plants, the introduction of a requirement for residue monitoring programmes at all such plants, the introduction of compulsory origin labelling for Irish beef, the development of an identification system for Irish sheep, the BSE surveillance and control programmes, the pesticides control service, the plant health inspection system, seed testing etc.
In addition to all these measures, Bord Bia and Bord Glas operate a number of voluntary quality assurance programmes, the purpose of which is to underpin the quality and safety of Irish food.
Does the Minister agree with the head of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Dr. Paddy Wall, who said last year that the food industry does not know the level of food poisoning microbes such as campylobacter in chickens, salmonella in pigs and e.coli in cattle? Does he also agree that an outbreak of food poisoning or contamination identified abroad as being associated with Irish food could jeopardise the reputation of the entire Irish food sector? Does he further agree that it is not enough to say that Ireland produces safe food, that we must be able to prove scientifically that it does, that traceability, quality assurance and verifiable standards must now be product specifications, that state-of-the-art surveillance systems are required, and that much work needs to be done in this area.
I thank the Deputy for tabling this question because the two matters which have moved to the top of the queue in recent years domestically and on foreign food markets are food safety and animal welfare. An outbreak of food poisoning would affect our food industry more than any other, given that we export food products to about 65 countries world wide From recent food scares, particularly the dioxin problem in Belgium and listeria and salmonella poisoning in various other countries, I know it would cause severe problems for the economy. Every possible strata of control systems is in place as part of a belt and braces approach. Dr. Pat Wall does a very good job. Whenever there is a question about food quality and hygiene he communicates straight away and with great authority. Any time the importance of food safety at all levels, production, processing and distribution, is highlighted I welcome it. I give an assurance to the House and consumers, both in Ireland and our markets world wide that every possible precaution is taken to ensure the safety of Irish food.
The Minister did not answer the question of whether he agrees with Dr. Wall. If things are so good, how come last month there were five breaches of BSE controls in respect of meat exported from the Republic to Northern Ireland which slipped by veterinary inspectors employed by the Department? Has the Minister received any communication from the responsible Department in Northern Ireland on the issue? If things are so good, how can something like this happen?
The case to which the Deputy referred, which is the subject of a specific question, highlights the fact that there is a control system in place. The matter was detected and Dr. Wall made a statement.
In the North.
We have retained all our markets. We have not been turfed out.
Yet.
Not only do we stand over our claims, but veterinary inspectors from our customer countries who visit our farms, plants and processing establishments are satisfied that our controls are more than adequate. I am glad to give that assurance to the House.
