Dan Neville
Question:50 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the action she intends to take to improve food labelling; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29203/04]
View answerThursday, 18 November 2004
Questions (58)
Written answers
There have been a number of developments in the area of food labelling, most of which emanated from the report of the food labelling group which was established in June 2002. The group reported in December of that year with a series of recommendations. The recommendations were accepted. As food labelling is a particularly complicated and broad based area, involving a number of Departments and agencies, an interdepartmental-agency group was established to progress the implementation of the report.
The position in December 2002 in relation to responsibility for food labelling was as follows. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment had policy responsibility for the main piece of legislation for the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs, namely, the European Council Directive 2000/13/EC. The Director of Consumer Affairs was responsible for the enforcement of that directive. The Department of Health and Children was responsible for policy on other food labelling legislation such as nutrition claims and novel foods, with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, FSAI, having responsibility for enforcement of the legislation. The Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources was responsible for the policy on labelling of fish and fish products with the FSAI again responsible for enforcement. My Department was responsible for policy in relation to legislation on the labelling of specific products ranging from beef, poultry and sugar to spirit drinks, coffee and fruit juices. The FSAI was responsible for the enforcement of the beef labelling regulations and the health boards operated the controls on the other products under the general aegis of my Department.
Good progress has been made to date in relation to the implementation of the recommendations in the labelling report. There were a total of 21 recommendations, many of which are beyond the remit of my Department and some of which were to be activated only after others had been completed. The two main issues that emanated from the recommendations of the labelling group were centralising enforcement in one agency and the definition of origin.
Enforcement of all of the food labelling regulations has now been centralised in the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. This will not only streamline the enforcement measures but it will also provide a one-stop shop for any complaints on mislabelling of food. Incidentally, as part of the centralisation of enforcement, the centralisation of food labelling policy, with the exception of fish, in both the Department of Health and Children and my Department achieves another recommendation of the food labelling group.
There was full agreement within the food labelling group that consumers have a right to information on the origin of the meat they cook in their homes or eat out. While the group could not agree on how origin should be defined, there was unanimous agreement that further research was necessary to establish consumers' wishes in this area. The consumer liaison panel has carried out this research, the results of which were presented in December 2003.
At the beginning of this year, two regulations in relation to the labelling of poultry meat were introduced. 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 — that is, non-prepackaged — to be provided to the consumer.
The principal remaining issue involves the labelling of origin of beef in the restaurant and catering sector. It had been intended to extend the existing rules by means of a statutory instrument. The enabling national legislation under which it was planned to draw up a statutory instrument has proved inadequate for the purpose. Primary legislation is now being considered in conjunction with the Department of Health and Children possibly involving a change to the Health Act 1947. Once enacted, statutory instruments will be introduced to cater for specific labelling requirements.
On the food labelling issue in general, I must emphasise that my primary aim is to protect consumer interest and to ensure that the consumer is properly informed. Ireland is a major exporter of food and food products and indeed there are also considerable imports, so it is imperative that the same standards are applied to the labelling of foods in every sector and that there is a level playing field for the food industry at all levels. I hope to achieve this through the implementation in as full a manner as possible of the recommendations of the food labelling group.