I thank the Chairman and the committee members for the invitation to make a short presentation. The Minister for Health and Children has overall responsibility for food labelling legislation.
Under the general labelling directive, the place of origin of the foodstuff must be given only if its absence could mislead the consumer to a material degree. The European Commission is currently undertaking a major review of all food labelling legislation and in this context it has prepared draft revised labelling regulations that are being discussed at Council working party level in Brussels. These draft regulations will be submitted to the EU Council of Health Ministers in the course of this year.
Notwithstanding the outcome of the current review of origin labelling, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has taken steps to introduce origin labelling for meats other than beef, which has been subject to specific legislation since September 2000. Regarding poultry, EU regulations provide for the labelling of unprocessed poultry meat at retail level. The regulations require such poultry meat to be labelled with information on class, price, condition, the registered number, slaughterhouse or cutting plant used and, where imported from a third country, an indication of country of origin.
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Children, drafted regulations that would require the country of origin to be indicated on pigmeat, poultry and sheepmeat. This was notified to the European Commission in December 2007, as required by legislation. However, the Commission was not prepared to adopt the draft regulations in their current format on the grounds that the proposed legislation was not in compliance with EU food labelling regulations. Its main contention is that only harmonised rules with EU-wide applicability may be applied to food labelling, other than in exceptional circumstances.
In March 2008 the European Commission delivered a negative opinion on the regulations but afforded Ireland an opportunity to provide further information in support of them. In the meantime, the Department provided additional details, including the current misleading labelling practices and evidence of consumers' desire for country of origin labelling. However, the EU standing committee on the food chain and animal health formally adopted the negative opinion in December 2008. This is very disappointing but, unfortunately, there was little support for our position from other member states, with the exception of Italy.
There is also an issue, whereby a primary product can enter Ireland and be processed in some way, allowing it to be branded as an Irish product. This is known as "substantial transformation". This terminology originates in WTO codex and EU legislation governing the EU customs code and can therefore only be amended at EU level. I have been concerned that this arrangement could in certain circumstances be used to mislead consumers as to the origin of the raw materials used in certain products. This was one of the principal points made to the European Commission in the context of our requests for its approval of our proposed national arrangements. We will continue to pursue this issue, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Children, at EU level in the context of the current review.
As I said, the only support for mandatory labelling of meat and meat products within these discussions came from Ireland and Italy. However, I met recently the UK Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Mr. Hilary Benn, and discussed the issue with him at length. A view is developing within Britain that it should also support obligatory labelling of country of origin for meat and meat products. This is a welcome development and represents a big change in attitude in Britain. In the meantime, products carrying the Bord Bia quality assurance label provide consumers with assurance on product origin.
I wish the Chairman and the committee well in their discussions with Commissioner Kuneva on this very important issue.
