Food production and labelling rules in the European Union operate in accordance with harmonised rules and member states controls are subject to audit and supervision by the EU Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) of the EU. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) under the aegis the Minister for Health has overall responsibility for the enforcement of food safety and labelling requirements in Ireland. It carries out this remit through service contracts with my Department and other agencies including the Health Service Executive (HSE), Local Authority Veterinary Service and the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority.
Primary responsibility under EU law for the safety and traceability of food placed on the market lies with food business operators. The role of my Department is to verify compliance with these requirements. This is done by a combination of inspecting establishments and by auditing the food safety management systems which operators are required to have in place. These controls are applied at different stages in the food supply chain.
Under current EU regulations, origin labelling is only mandatory for fresh beef and meat coming from third countries. However, new implementing rules on country of origin labelling for fresh, chilled and frozen sheep, goat, pig and poultry meat were adopted by the European Commission last December. These new rules will apply from 1 April 2015.
My Department carries out labelling checks as part of the routine official checks at meat plants, where there is a permanent presence of Department veterinary or technical staff. Checks are conducted on a random, risk based frequency and cover labelling, traceability/origin, identification of cattle, labelling of carcasses, meat, mince meat and meat products. Departmental officials also carry out work to ensure compliance with the application of health and hygiene regulations and traceability within the remit of my own Department. This work is subject to regular audit by both the FSAI and the FVO. My Department also carries out checks at retail level under EU Marketing Standard Regulations.
All imports of food products of animal origin into the EU are the subject of prior notification and my Department, in co-operation with the Customs Service, operates veterinary public health controls at EU approved Border Inspection Posts on all direct imports into Ireland coming from non EU (or third) countries. Such products may be imported only from countries and processing plants approved by the Food and Veterinary Office of the European Union, meeting the necessary health and hygiene standards.
