Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 March 2004
29 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the degree to which hotels and restaurants currently use Irish beef, lamb, pork and poultry; if it represents an increase or decrease; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9084/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraIt is primarily a commercial matter for the food service sector whether it chooses to use Irish beef, lamb, pork and poultry. Once meat is in free circulation on the EU market, operators have the right to offer it to their customers. However, consumers, whether at retail or the food service-catering stage, should have access to full information regarding the food they eat, particularly where origin is concerned.
With regard to beef, existing EU beef labelling regulations introduced in 2000 are applicable to sale at retail and wholesale level but do not apply to beef sold in the catering and food service sectors. In the context of an EU Commission report on the implementation of the beef labelling regulations due to be presented soon to the Agriculture Council, I have raised with the Commission the question of extending these regulations to the food service sector.
With regard to poultry meat, I recently implemented new legislation to require country of origin information to be provided at the point of retail sale. The possibilities of extending this requirement to sale at food service and catering establishments and to other meats is currently being examined.
Bord Bia introduced a Féile Bia scheme in June 2001 in response to growing consumer concerns about the quality and origin of ingredients used in the food service sector. Membership of Féile Bia is on a voluntary basis and over 1,290 hotels, restaurants, pubs and catering outlets nationwide have joined to date. Members are required to check and record the origin of the meat they are serving and are asked to label the origin of the meat on their menus.
It should be pointed out that figures available for total retail sales of meat in Ireland in 2003 showed an increase of 5% over the previous year. Beef sales were up by 10%, lamb by 6%, poultry by 7% while pigmeat sales remained at a similar level to the previous year.
