Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 June 2013
439. Deputy Derek Keating asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the current status on the contamination of food with horse meat; if he is satisfied that enough regulations, legislation and statutory obligations by food processors are in place to ensure that no such event of contaminating food will occur again; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28897/13]
View answerThe detailed report on the ‘Equine DNA and Mislabelling of Processed Beef Investigation’, which I published on 14th March, includes details of the companies that came to my Department’s attention during this investigation and the actions taken by the Department. Operations in a total of four plants were suspended (in some cases on a voluntary basis) for varying periods arising from the investigation. While the report concluded that none of the meat plants in Ireland knowingly purchased horsemeat information in relation to activities by traders and other intermediaries in the supply chain outside of the jurisdiction has been passed to Europol and other Member States to facilitate continuing investigations in other countries.
It is important to note in that context that while some of the failures referred to in the report risked reputational damage to the Irish food sector, they did not breach EU or national law. My Department is however considering the possibility of introducing legal proceedings in certain instances as referred to in the report.
A range of actions taken in relation to this issue at both national and EU level include a programme of DNA testing of beef products and testing of horse meat for the presence of phenylbutazone. Controls relating to horse identification are being strengthened and my Department has taken responsibility for the supervision of all horse abattoirs in Ireland. Meat traders/agents will also be required to register as food business operators.
On 16th April results were published of the EU wide testing programme for equine DNA in beef products and phenylbutazone (bute) in horse carcases. The results showed that, across the EU, there were 4,144 tests under the equine DNA programme of which 193 were positive. In Ireland, all of the results of the 50 DNA tests on Irish beef products under the EU programme were negative.
In addition there were 7,951 tests reported for equine DNA carried out by food business operators across the EU, of which 110 were positive. Under the Irish national DNA testing regime the results of 2185 DNA tests published by the FSAI to date showed only a small number of positives (32 representing 9 products), all of which were published previously and related to products withdrawn from the market. DNA testing by food business operators is ongoing and results will be published periodically by the FSAI.
In relation to the EU programme for bute testing there were 16 positives from 3,115 tests. In Ireland of the 840 tests carried out on horse carcases for bute, only one was positive. The carcase concerned was destroyed and the case is under investigation.
The Irish authorities were the first to discover and disclose this problem of adulteration of beef products, which turned out to be a pan European problem. Exposure of this malpractice will result in improved consumer protection not just in Ireland, but also throughout Europe. In that regard, the EU Commission is pursuing an action plan over the remainder of 2013 and into 2014 which includes specific actions and measures on the following basic elements: fighting food fraud, testing programmes, horse passports, official controls and origin labelling. It is important that controls in this area are strengthened on a pan European basis, not just at national level, and as stated in the report some of the measures envisaged will require legislative change at EU level.
