Mary O'Rourke
Ceist:42 Mrs. O'Rourke asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if he will establish a permanent independent food safety inspectorate. [19155/96]
Written Answers. - Food Safety Inspectorate.
As the Deputy is no doubt aware, there are already extensive controls on the safety of food exercised by a number of Government Departments and agencies. These controls address in a comprehensive manner all stages of the food production cycle from primary production, through processing to retailing; stipulate an array of exacting standards which must be observed at different stages of the cycle; and provide a wide apparatus of inspections, sampling and scientific testing, supported by a regime of stringent penalties, deployed to enforce standards.
The Departments and agencies concerned are as follows: the Department of Health, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, the Department of the Marine, the Department of the Environment, the Food Safety Advisory Board, An Bord Bia, the Irish Medicines Board, the Radiological Protection Institute and the veterinary services of local authorities.
As the Deputy is also aware, I established the expert advisory group on beef products last March for the specific purpose of advising the Government, consumers and traders regarding the safety of Irish beef in the context of the then recently imposed EU ban on UK beef exports. This objective was achieved with the promulgation by the group of the Guidelines on Beef and Beef Products, a copy of which is in the Official Report, vol. 464, cols. 110-119, of 17 April 1996.