Vol. 550 No. 4
256 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if his attention has been drawn to difficulties placed on personnel running small service stores for farmers in rural areas by having seven documents provided for each item sold, that is, a bag of meal or many other farm related products; his views on whether this is excessive regulation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9154/02]
The animal feed regulations require that records be kept at all stages throughout the feed chain from import of raw materials to retail sales. The purpose of this requirement is to ensure the efficient and immediate traceability and possible recall of material where contamination of feeding stuffs is suspected. This is an important element in the food safety chain. There is no question of seven different documents being provided for each item sold. Under the regulations, a retailer of compound feeding stuffs is required to keep a record of the supplier of the feed, the description, net quantity and date of receipt of the feeding stuff together with the date the feed was placed on the market and the name and address of the person to whom the feeding stuff was sold.
