Éamon Ó Cuív
Question:212. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps he has taken to address the illegal horse meat trade here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3210/13]
View answerWednesday, 23 January 2013
Questions (212)
Written answers
My Department and Local Authorities operate under EU regulatory requirements which apply in this area in the delivery of official controls in relation to horse identification at marts and other sales venues, in abattoirs and at points of entry to the country. Where forged or tampered passports accompanying horses to slaughter are detected, it is the policy that such animals are destroyed and removed from the food chain.
These requirements are designed to ensure that meat produced in approved slaughter plants is suitable for human consumption. All equines (which include horses, ponies and donkeys) are required to be identified in accordance with EU and national legislation. All equines issued with a passport after I July 2009 must have a corresponding microchip implanted by a veterinarian which is recorded in the passport and creates a link between the passport and the animal.
The passport includes information on any veterinary medicines administered to equines. An equine for slaughter for human consumption must be accompanied to the slaughterhouse by its passport in compliance with current veterinary requirements - this requirement is an essential part of the food-chain information required by food law and the information on the passport determines whether the animal can be slaughtered for human consumption. Under EU legislation, horses treated with certain veterinary medicines such as phenylbutazone, known in the industry as “bute”, are permanently excluded from the human food chain in order to protect public health and the passport of the horse in question is endorsed by the prescribing veterinary practitioner to this effect.
My Department has developed detailed procedures for the slaughter of horses in abattoirs and has communicated these and the checks required both to its staff and the business operators. It has liaised with passport issuing agencies in Ireland and has developed protocols to allow abattoir operators to check the details of passports with these agencies to seek to ensure that they are valid and that only those horses eligible for slaughter are slaughtered.
Ongoing vigilance is maintained in relation to official controls in this area. In that connection, the European Communities (Equine) (Amendment) Regulations, S.I. No. 371/2012, introduced recently, provide for the updating of S.I. No. 357/2011 (European Communities (Equine) Regulations 2011) to strengthen the powers of the Minister in relation to approval of an issuing body for equine passports, authorised officers and prosecutions in relation to equine identification.
The Department is also developing a central database (traceability system) of horses which will involve migration of selected data from passport issuing organisations to the Department. The database will be populated by information provided from the databases maintained by the passport issuing organisations; by the Department from records obtained from sources such as slaughter plants and knackeries; and by Local Authority Veterinary Inspectors in respect of records maintained at appropriate slaughter plants.
The Animal Health and Welfare Bill, which was introduced into the Dail last year, is a very comprehensive piece of legislation on animal health and welfare and will give the Minister and Local Authorities additional powers in relation to the protection of the health and, particularly, the welfare of horses. While my Department does not comment on ongoing investigations, I can advise that during 2012 it revoked the approvals of one organisation to maintain a stud book and issue horse passports; and the approval of one slaughter plant was voluntarily suspended.