Vol. 548 No. 4
48 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if he has taken action to prevent the import of unlabelled meat which may be served to customers in restaurants; his views on whether it is acceptable that labelling requirements on country of origin apply only to retail sales; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4966/02]
My Department has arrangements in place at main ports and airports to check compliance with the relevant import requirements as specified under EU legislation. The general conditions which apply to imports are as follows: The meat products must have been prepared and stored in an approved establishment, e.g. processing plant or cold store, and which has been allocated an approval number; the meat products must be marked with a health mark containing the initials of the exporting country and the approval number of the consigning establishment within an oval surround; and the consignment must be accompanied to destination by (a)(i) a commercial document which must bear, in addition to the health mark described above, a code number by which the competent authority responsible for supervising the establishment of origin can be identified if sourced from an establishment within the European Community, or in respect of imports from third countries, (ii) a health certificate conforming to model certificates as set down in EU legislation and issued by the competent authority at the time of loading and which has been signed by an official veterinarian of the competent authority of the exporting third country, and, (b) in the case of products containing meat derived from bovine animals slaughtered the United Kingdom, a health certificate which has been signed by an official veterinarian of the competent authority stating that the products conform to the relevant conditions laid down in Council Decision 98/256/EC, concerning emergency measures to protect against BSE.
In respect of bovine meat products, additional labelling requirements apply under EU legislation requiring the compulsory labelling of beef at all stages of production and marketing up to and including the final point of sale to the consumer. The legislation was introduced in two stages. The first stage, which entered into force on 1 September 2000, requires operators or organisations to label beef with the following information: a reference number or code which enables the beef to be traced back to an animal or group of animals from which it was derived; the approval number of the slaughterhouse and member state or third country in which it is located, and; the approval number of the de-boning hall and member state or third country in which it is located.
