Mary Upton
Question:52 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the progress made on the labelling of beef for the catering trade with country of origin label; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14727/04]
View answerThursday, 20 May 2004
Questions (52)
Written answers
Existing EU beef labelling regulations, introduced in 2000, are applicable to sale at retail and wholesale levels but do not apply to beef sold in the catering and food service sectors. It is my view that this legislation should be extended to restaurants and catering establishments which are not currently obliged to inform customers about the country of origin of the beef they serve.
An EU Commission report on the operation of the beef labelling legislation was considered at the special committee on agriculture meeting in Killarney last week. Ireland's position was made clear at that meeting and it will be taken up again in the Agriculture Council in June when the motion is dealt with at ministerial level. I believe that extending the labelling provisions to cover the food service sector is a reasonable and genuine demand on the part of consumers and can be done without adding costs to the sector and that the consumer has the right to know the origin of the product.