Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 September 2018
166. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on the obligatory labelling of country of origin on vegetables, fruit and potatoes in supermarkets as proposed by farming organisations. [39354/18]
View answerUnder Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 543/2011 country of origin labelling is currently mandatory for almost all fresh fruit and vegetables. This Regulation does not apply to potatoes. However under the "Food Information to the Consumer Regulation" (Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council) the country of origin must be labelled on potatoes offered for sale where a failure to declare the country of origin might mislead the consumer. For example potatoes offered for sale in Ireland must have their country of origin labelled if they were not grown in Ireland.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is involved in enforcing both of these pieces of legislation.
