Bernard J. Durkan
Question:53 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food his plans to improve meat labelling with particular reference to clear identification of the country of origin. [9239/04]
View answerWednesday, 24 March 2004
Questions (53, 54, 55)
Bernard J. Durkan
Question:55 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he has satisfied himself that adequate information is provided through product labelling to identify country of origin in respect of all meat, poultry and dairy products on sale here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9241/04]
View answerBernard J. Durkan
Question:56 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the steps he has taken to encourage hotels, pubs and restaurants to advertise the origin of the meat or poultry served; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9242/04]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 53, 55 and 56 together.
The consumer liaison panel recently completed a survey, at my request, on consumer concerns regarding the origin of meat and the information provided in both the retail and catering sectors. The results of this research confirmed that consumers want information on the origin of the meat they consume either in the home or when dining out. I am determined, in so far as it is within the powers available to me, to meet the wishes of consumers, as identified in the research.
In the beef sector, the EU beef labelling regulations which were introduced in 2000 require operators involved in the marketing of beef to label their product with a reference code to enable the beef to be traced back to the animal or group of animals from which it was derived; the approval number of the slaughterhouse and the country in which it is located; the approval number of the deboning hall and the country in which it is located, and an indication of the origin of the animal from which the beef was derived. For the purpose of these regulations, marketing means all aspects of beef production and marketing up to and including retail sale. These labelling requirements, which are compulsory in all member states, apply to the marketing of beef within the Community, regardless of whether that beef was produced within the Community or in a third country. Where beef is imported in to the Community from a third country and not all the above details are available, that beef must, at a minimum, be labelled as 'Origin: non-EC' along with an indication of the third country in which slaughter took place.
However, these regulations do not currently apply to beef sold in the food service outlets. The regulations are currently, being reviewed by the EU Commission. In the context of that review, I wrote to Commission Fischler asking him to consider including a provision for the labelling of origin of meat in such outlets. It is expected that a report on the review should be issued shortly.
In the poultry sector, I recently introduced two regulations on the labelling of poultry meat. The first of these regulations requires poultry meat, loose and pre-packaged, originating in a country outside the EU to bear an indication of the country of origin when offered for sale in a retail premises. The second, requires information regarding class, price per unit weight, condition and slaughterhouse details in respect of loose poultry meat non-prepackaged, to be provided to the consumer. Heretofore, while these labelling indications have been compulsory for pre-packaged poultry meat it had not been a requirement to provide this information for poultry meat sold loose.
In addition to the above mentioned action, I have arranged that each sector will be reviewed on a commodity by commodity basis to identify any deficiencies, from a consumer viewpoint, in the labelling regulations for those commodities. I intend to take further action over the coming period in all commodity areas as appropriate.
On catering outlets, the Féile Bia scheme, which is a voluntary scheme organised by Bord Bia in conjunction with the Restaurants Association of Ireland and the Irish Hotels' Federation, requires members to undertake to source meat, chicken and eggs from suppliers that are: current members of Bord Bia quality assurance schemes, or members of recognised national or international quality assurance schemes that are deemed to be equivalent to the Bord Bia quality assurance schemes. A consumer entering a Féile Bia restaurant knows that the food has been monitored at all stages along the food chain and that the Féile Bia approved establishment is inspected and assessed by independent inspectors.