Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 February 2012
162 Deputy Noel Grealish asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the obligation he has, with reference to the farm-to-fork traceability requirements, regarding the movement of animals within the State without passports; the consequence of such movement of animals without proper documentation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7113/12]
View answerRegulation (EC) No. 178 of 2002, which sets out the general principles and requirements of EU food law, stipulates among other things, that food business operators at all stages of production, processing and distribution within the businesses under their control must ensure that foods satisfy the requirements of food law and that these requirements are met. On traceability, the regulations require that the operator must have systems in place to be able to identify any person from whom they have been supplied with a food. They must also have a system in place to identify the other businesses to which their product has been supplied.
There are a number of Statutory Instruments (S.I.s) covering the identification and traceability requirements of animals in this State.
S.I. No. 77 of 2009 (European Communities (Identification of Bovines) Regulations 2009), sets out the legal obligation to tag a bovine animal. The Animal Identification and Movement (AIM) Database that records the registration and movement of all bovine animals is programmed in such a manner that any bovine without a passport that is presented for sale or slaughter will not be accepted. S.I. No. 357 of 2011 (European Communities (Equine) Regulations 2011 requires that a person shall not have in his or her possession an equine animal unless it is identified before 31st December in the year of birth or within six months following the date of its birth, whichever date occurs later.
Additional information on the requirements and practices for identification of individual species is set out below:
Checks on sheep identity at meat plants are mostly visual, although some use is made of scanners. (S.I. No. 309 of 2011 European Communities (Sheep Identification) Regulations 2011 and S.I. No. 281 of 2011 Diseases of Animals Act 1966 (National Sheep Identification System) Order 2001).
The National Pig Identification and Tracing System (NPITS) records all movements of pigs to factories. Identity checks on pigs at meat plants are usually done by visual examination of the slap mark on the skin of the animals, and identification is by herd basis rather than by individual pig. (S.I. No. 341 of 2002 Diseases of Animals Act 1966 (National Pig Identification and Tracing System) Order 2002).
In the case of poultry, it is not a requirement to individually identify every bird, or to health mark the carcass. However, there remains a general requirement for the FBO and Department staff to be satisfied as to the origin of the flock before allowing slaughter of birds for human consumption. (S.I. No. 432 of 2009 European Communities (Food and Feed Hygiene) Regulations 2009).
The penalties imposed for not adhering to these obligations are stipulated in the S.I.s listed.
