Vol. 561 No. 3
14 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the pesticides used in agriculture for which tests exist; the pesticides used in agriculture for which no tests exist; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4049/03]
There are approximately 90 pesticides and their metabolites for which tests exist. These are listed on my Department's website. There are an additional 400 to 500 pesticides used globally for the manufacture of plant protection products and while tests are available for the analysis of residues in the vast majority of these, not all of these pesticides have been validated in line with the requirements of an accredited laboratory.
My Department has doubled the number of samples being analysed for pesticide residues over the past two years and we plan to increase this level of sampling during the next two years. Monitoring for pesticide residues in food is very resource intensive and at present no country worldwide has the resources necessary to test all foods for all pesticides.
I am satisfied, however, that the finding of a small portion of the vertebral column in the cut of beef exported to the UK did not constitute a public health risk to the consumer for the following reasons: (a) the piece of vertebral column attached to the rib bone is associated with a part of that bone which is at some distance from the location of the dorsal root ganglia, DRG: (b) the rib and attached vertebral column would, in the course of normal commercial processing, have been removed prior to the beef being offered for sale or consumption; (c) the carcasses from which the beef in question was derived were of bovine animals under 30 months of age, produced in compliance with all of the extensive animal feed controls implemented by my Department. I am satisfied that the particular incident, while representing a technical breach of the regulations on specified risk material, did not, in any sense, place the consumer at risk.
