Vol. 553 No. 4
14 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if his attention has been drawn to the call made by a person (details supplied) that butchers should be required to display signs showing the country of origin of loose chicken fillets, especially having regard to concerns regarding fillets imported into the EU from Asia; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13972/02]
The question of changes to the labelling regulations arose out of findings by the FSAI that chicken fillets imported from the Netherlands, and originating in non EU countries, had been incorrectly labelled by the Netherlands exporters. At present, EU labelling regulations do not require country of origin to be displayed at the point of retail sale of loose chicken products. Regulations governing the labelling of products for retail sale, including foodstuffs, is the responsibility of the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment and Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs and is implemented under contract to the FSAI.
The overriding principle in the production of food is the safety of the consumer. Only food produced to the highest standards of food safety and quality should be placed on the market. Responsibility for ensuring these standards rests primarily with the industry itself, with the role of the regulatory authorities being that of providing the assurances required by law. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has overall responsibility for the enforcement of food safety legislation in Ireland. It provides a single focus for all state agencies involved in food safety regulation, thereby guaranteeing the integrity of the control system governing the processing, distribution and retail of food.
My Department is fully committed to ensuring that primary producers and the food industry in general pursue the highest possible standards of food safety and quality. Working in close co-operation with the FSAI and other Government agencies, my Department pursues this objective through the deployment of staff in monitoring, surveillance and inspection services through every link of the food chain within its area of responsibility. The Department ensures that EU and national rules are enforced at the primary production and processing stages and beyond that for some sectors. In addition, there is a wide range of systems in place to monitor and promote the quality of Irish food. For example, the National Beef Assurance Scheme was enacted in 2000 to guarantee the safety of Irish beef and beef products and to ensure high standards of production and processing throughout the whole industry.
In addition to the range of control measures operated by my Department, quality assurance schemes aimed at ensuring safe, wholesome, quality food produce are operated by An Bord Bia and An Bord Glas. Bord Bia operates separate schemes for beef, pigmeat and eggs and arrangements are in place to develop quality assurance programmes for the poultry and lamb sectors. These schemes operate in an integrated fashion along the production chain, thereby providing controls from farm to table. An Bord Glas operates a "Quality Programme" to ensure that horticultural produce is produced and prepared in line with best practice and current regulatory requirements. The programme encompasses all the production sectors of the horticultural industry and is accredited to EN45011 standard. An Bord Bia has established a subsidiary board dealing specifically with quality assurance. Currently the Quality Assurance Board is in the process of seeking accreditation to the European Standard EN45011. This will enable it to carry out the functions of a certification body in accordance with the EN45011 accreditation requirements of the National Accreditation Board.
An expert group was established by my Department to review quality assurance schemes in the food area and to make recommendations on achieving greater coherence and clarity. The main recommendation in the report was that all schemes should be accredited to EN45011 standard and that a set of generic national guidelines should be drawn up by the National Standards Authority of Ireland. This matter is being progressed with the NSAI.
