As the Deputy will be aware the Minister for Health has overall responsibility for the general food labelling legislation and the new EU food information regulations that were adopted by the Council of Health Ministers in December 2011. However my Department plays an important role in the labelling of food together with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI).
In my capacity as Chairman of the EU Agricultural Council I have, together with my ministerial colleagues and the EU Commission, given a high priority to food labelling issues. Consumers should rightly expect not to be misled by inaccurate labelling and must have confidence in knowing what they are eating. Ireland will continue to give leadership in this area and will work with our EU partners to strengthen consumer assurance measures, including more accurate labelling requirements as set out in the Food Information for the Consumer (FIC) Regulation (1169/2011/EC).
This legislation extended explicit compulsory origin labelling requirements to meats other than beef, with the detailed rules to be adopted in implementing acts by 13 December 2013, following an impact assessment by the Commission.
General Food Labelling Rules
Food labelling used to inform consumers of the properties of pre-packaged food is governed by EU rules. The most important labelling rule is that the consumer should not be misled.
The FIC regulation also adopts rules on compulsory labelling where the origin or place of provenance of a food is given and where it is not the same as its primary ingredient. Insofar as meat as an ingredient is concerned, these rules are subject to the adoption of implementing acts, which must take account of an impact assessment to be carried out by the Commission. As a result of the recent incidents of horsemeat being discovered in beef burgers and other beef products the Commission have now agreed to bring forward their work on this aspect of the regulation to September this year. Beef Labelling Rules
In general, all fresh, frozen or minced beef marketed in the EU (with the exception of offal) is subject to a mandatory system of origin traceability and origin labelling. The purpose of these rules is to ensure that beef on sale can be traced back to the animal or group of animals from which it came.
There are two elements to the beef labelling regime which apply to all parts of the supply chain; the compulsory system, which requires food business operators to label their beef products (unless cooked or processed) with certain prescribed information up to and including the point of sale to the consumer; and the voluntary system, which covers any other labelling claim that processors or retailers wish to make concerning the origin, characteristics or production methods of the beef they are supplying. The claims made on product labels, marketing material or point of sale notices must be clear and cannot be misleading.
Formed meat
Also in the FIC regulation (Annex VI) in the case of meat products, meat preparations which may give the impression that they are made of a whole piece of meat, but actually consist of different pieces combined together by other ingredients, including food additives and food enzymes or by other means, shall bear the words “ formed meat” on the label.
Traceability
The identification and registration of cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry and equines are also governed by EU Regulations and these Regulations have been transposed into national law.
The Department’s Animal Identification and Movement (AIM) database is a generic system that records identification and movement data on cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. The AIM system was developed using Internet-based technology and the majority of interactions with the system are electronic transactions. Work is already advanced on the development of a central database for equines on the AIM system. The AIM system is integrated with the Department’s corporate systems to record customer data (CCS) and animal health data (AHCS). The AHCS database holds a record of persons registered as keepers of the different animal species, including equine animals.
The Department is introducing a range of measures to improve traceability systems in the equine sector and is liaising with passport issuing agencies in Ireland in this regard. Protocols to allow abattoir operators to cross check the details of passports with these agencies have been developed, aimed at ensuring that only those horses eligible for slaughter are slaughtered. The Department is also developing a central database of horses which will involve migration of selected data from passport issuing agencies. The database will be populated with information provided from the databases maintained by the agencies, by the Department from records obtained at slaughter plants and knackeries and by local authorities in respect of records maintained at appropriate slaughter plants. The intention is that this database will be used at abattoirs to assist in verifying the authenticity of the passport for the equine presented and to record its date of slaughter.
Pigmeat
Under the National Pig Identification and Tracing System (NPITS) all pig herds are centrally registered, all pigs being moved are identified (by means of tag or slap mark) and accompanied by movement documents, and all movements are recorded on a centrally managed database. Thus the movement of all pigs from farm to factory and to any destination in between is fully traceable.
Poultry
All poultry keepers are required to register with my Department. Poultry operators are subject to a wide range of EU and domestic legislation and are monitored by inspectors from my Department. Given the vertical nature of the poultry meat sector, most birds are reared under contract to processors. The processors supply the day-old birds in the first instance. The subsequent movement of broilers back to the processing facility is strictly controlled. Furthermore, there is an ongoing Department veterinary presence in poultry plants and this, together with inspections at farm level, underpins a strong domestic regime.
