Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 June 2005
522 Mr. Connolly asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she is satisfied with the standard of accuracy of labelling of meat and meat products; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19115/05]
Amharc ar fhreagraMuch legislation governs the labelling of meat and meat products. The general labelling regulations covering, among other things, all food sold in Ireland require that the information be given clearly, accurately and in a language understood by the consumer. This legislation comes within the remit of the Department of Health and Children.
My Department is responsible for legislation policy on the labelling of specific products including beef and poultrymeat. The labelling of beef is governed by EU regulations introduced in 2000. These require operators involved in marketing beef to label their product with a reference code to enable the beef to be traced back to the animal or group of animals from which it was derived, the approval number of the slaughterhouse and the country in which it is located, the approval number of the de-boning hall and the country in which it is located and an indication of the origin of the animal from which the beef was derived. For the purpose of these regulations, marketing means all aspects of beef production and marketing up to and including retail sale.
These labelling requirements, compulsory in all member states, apply to the marketing of beef within the community, regardless of whether that beef was produced within the community or in a third country. Where beef is imported in to the community from a third country and not all the above details are available, that beef must, at a minimum, be labelled as "Origin: non-EC" along with an indication of the third country in which slaughter took place.
The EU requirements in respect of labelling of beef do not apply at the point of final consumption in the restaurant and catering sector and Ireland has raised this with the European Commission. I have already made clear my view that the country of origin should be displayed in respect of beef served on such premises and that consumers are entitled to such information. My Department is working with the Department of Health and Children to progress appropriate national legislation as soon as possible to bring this into effect.
My Department introduced two regulations on the labelling of poultry meat at the beginning of last year. The first of these regulations requires loose and pre-packaged poultrymeat originating in a country outside the EU to bear an indication of the country of origin when offered for sale in a retail premises. The second requires information regarding class, price per unit weight, condition and slaughterhouse details in respect of loose poultrymeat to be provided to the consumer. Heretofore, while these labelling indications have been compulsory for pre-packaged poultrymeat, it had not been a requirement to provide this information for poultrymeat sold loose.
Arising from the implementation of the recommendations of the food labelling group responsibility for the enforcement of all of food labelling legislation is now centralised with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, FSAI.
On the food labelling issue in general, I must emphasise that my primary aim is to protect consumer interest and to ensure that the consumer is properly informed. Ireland is a major exporter of food and food products and indeed there are also considerable imports, so it is imperative that the same standards are applied to the labelling of foods in every sector and that there is a level playing field for the food industry at all levels. In this context my Department has pursued assiduously the implementation in as full a manner as possible of the recommendations of the food labelling group. At a meeting of the Council of Agriculture Ministers on 28 February this year I raised again the issue of labelling of foodstuffs and I, along with a number of member states, asked the Commission to further examine how best food labelling should be handled at EU level in order to best protect the interests of the consumer.
