Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 29 May 2001

Vol. 537 No. 2

Written Answers. - Food Safety Authority.

John Bruton

Question:

196 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will centralise all sampling and testing for the presence of antibiotic residues in the food chain in one authority in order to avoid duplication, inconsistency and lack of direction. [15536/01]

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Dr. Moffatt)

The surveillance of food for chemical residues is essential for the protection of public health. As part of their national responsibilities the Food Safety Authority of Ireland monitors the safety of food in the Irish food chain in conjunction with 41 official agencies and their associated laboratories. Through this network of co-operation it is ensured that all food consumed, distributed, marketed or produced in the state meets the highest standards of food safety and hygiene. The national testing programme for antibiotic residues in foods of animal origin is carried out by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development under an EU approved annual plan. Under this plan departmental veterinary staff based in export approved slaughtering plants implement the relevant controls by performing inspections and taking samples in such plants. Controls at farm level are implemented by Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development staff, who are based in its district veterinary offices distributed throughout the entire country, usually on a county, local government administrative unit, basis.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development also has a centrally based specialist unit which conducts focused investigations. These investigations are conducted in co-operation, as appropriate, with district veterinary offices, the Garda, customs services and, or staff in the slaughtering plants. Meat products are analysed at the Central Meat Control Laboratory, Abbotstown, Dublin; milk and milk products are examined by the three dairy science laboratories located in Dublin, Limerick and Cork. A large number of samples are analysed by the food industry as part of their "own checks" food safety assurance programmes and these results are fed into the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development national programme.

The own checks programme began in 2000 and is a regime based on legislation under which the meat processors are individually obliged to implement approved residue monitoring measures in respect of animals supplied to them. It involves the submission by each processor of an annual residue monitoring plan to the Depart ment of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. In cases where animals test positive each processor must apply significantly increased levels of testing to subsequent consignments of animals from the supplier or suppliers in question. This initiative is significantly adding to the protection from illegal residues afforded to consumers of Irish food products. The initiative enables each processor, and indeed supplier, to deal effectively and in a timely manner with any problems which might emerge from time to time. It also equips Irish processors with another valuable and credible means of assuring consumers in an increasingly competitive market place of the quality and safety of their products.

The Department of Marine and Natural Resources feeds into the national plan in relation to testing farmed fish for antibiotic residues and local authorities perform the same function in relation to meat slaughtered at domestic abattoirs. A small number of food samples are taken by the environmental health officer service of the health boards for residue testing as part of their national food surveillance programme of foods in the retail market. These samples are analysed in the public analysts laboratories located in Cork, Galway and Dublin. There are four national reference laboratories for residue analysis which are the Central Meat Control Laboratory, the State Laboratory, the National Food Centre and the Marine Institute Fisheries Research Laboratory. In total there are eight approved laboratories under the national residues monitoring plan. Under the national testing programme approximately 90,000 samples were taken during 1999 and were tested by approved laboratories for 18 separate groups of residues. Results show a declining trend of positive tests for illegal residues. In 1999 0.3% tested positive as compared to 0.6% in 1998, the first year of the programme. Statistics for sampling and analysis for 2000 are currently being collated.

In the context of a strategy to address the antibiotic residue problem, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, working in conjunction with the FSAI, commenced a special monitoring exercise in the poultry sector during 1999-2000. This exercise involves checking additional poultry samples for the presence of inhibitory substances. In 2000 the Department worked closely with the FSAI and University College Dublin in the development of a strategy to address the problem of antibiotic resistance in poultry. A monitoring exercise was commenced by these three organisations to collate baseline data for resistance patterns in a number of species of bacteria. This work is ongoing. While testing for antibiotic residues is carried on in a number of specialised laboratories and by a number of State agencies, the overall picture of the national antibiotic residue monitoring programme in Ireland is a well structured and well implemented programme that is nationally co-ordinated by the FSAI.