Vol. 564 No. 3
11 Ms Burton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food his plans to implement rules and regulations on the labelling of food; if he has plans for a cohesive national policy on food labelling; if he proposes to set up a one-stop-shop to deal with consumer complaints on food labelling; the plans he has to ensure that the Food Safety Authority of Ireland will have overall responsibility for food labelling legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8859/03]
At present, the enforcement of general labelling regulations is a matter for the Office of Director for Consumer Affairs. I have responsibility for the labelling of certain specific foods. However, I have been concerned for some time about food labelling issues generally. As a result, in July last year, I established a food labelling group to examine issues surrounding food labelling in the context of consumer expectations and concerns. This group reported to me in December 2002. The recommendations of the group included the issues raised by the Deputy. I have recently agreed an action plan for the implementation of the recommendations of the group and, to this end an inter departmental-agency group is being set up to monitor the implementation of the action plan.
