Vol. 561 No. 3
66 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the purposes and provisions of the food incident management plan which he announced recently; the steps he has taken to minimise or prevent a terrorist attack on the food supply; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3869/03]
The lesson learned by the Irish and other European Authorities in responding to past food scares was the need to have a well prepared Incident Management Plan in place. Equally, the necessity to develop a crisis plan in Europe has now been formally recognised in European food legislation. The European Commission will draw up such a plan in close co-operation with member states and with the new European Food Safety Authority. The challenge of preparing a plan for Ireland is being met by each agency involved in food in Ireland, and also through the development of this inter-agency food incident management plan.
The food agency co-operation council, FACC, was established under the aegis of my Department to promote the fullest possible practical co-operation between the State agencies involved in the food industry in the interests of the optimum development of the industry. Recent events and experience led the FACC to the conclusion that there was a need for a more transparent food crisis plan. The purpose of the incident management plan launched in December 2002 is to strengthen co-ordination between the Government Departments, enforcement agencies, food industry and consumers; facilitate a seamless local, national and international response; and develop transparent, documented protocols to initiate and conduct product tracing and recall and to assure adequate and timely communication with all stakeholders and the public during a food incident.
The key elements of food incident management plan are incident notification mechanism; incident management; and incident information dissemination. This plan aims at ensuring that in the event of a crisis from whatever source in the food sector in Ireland, all of the State agencies involved in that sector act in a mutually supportive manner and together with industry, provide each other with the fullest practical assistance so that consumers are protected, public confidence is maintained, and the industry retains the capacity to recover.
