Vol. 553 No. 4
50 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the measures being taken in regard to the recent discovery that some chicken fillets imported into the State have been found to contain cattle and pig proteins; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13973/02]
The recent discovery by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland that certain imported poultry products into Ireland from the Netherlands contained bovine and porcine proteins which were in breach of EU labelling regulations has been brought to the attention of the EU Commission and the Dutch authorities.
The FSAI report on the incident highlights the need for attention at EU level to the issue of imports into the Union from third countries, to the application of EU labelling rules and to those measures which ensure the strictest control of ingredients used in food production. The specific details reported by the FSAI mainly concerned the handling and processing of imported poultry product by Dutch processors. The FSAI also concluded that Irish produced poultry products which they also sampled were found negative for the presence of bovine or porcine DNA. Notwithstanding this position, I nevertheless initiated an immediate examination and survey of Irish poultry processing establishments and all results obtained to date have been negative in line with the FSAI findings.
