Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 July 2008
494 Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the progress made on the programme for Government proposal to further exploit the potential of existing animal traceability systems for the marketing and labelling of food products; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28548/08]
Amharc ar fhreagra506 Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the progress made on the programme for Government proposal to ensure that high standards of food safety, quality labelling and traceability will be vigorously promoted to provide a competitive advantage against low-cost imports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28560/08]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 494 and 506 together.
Irish food safety is guaranteed by the rigorous standards, processes and audits required under the European Food and Feed Hygiene legislation, the Department's animal traceability system and the comprehensive quality assurances schemes operated through Bord Bia. State aid approval has been secured for Bord Bia's advertising campaign for quality assured product and for the use of the quality assured logo denoting origin.
FIRM (The Food Institutional Research Measure) has funded a number of research projects in the area of safety, quality and traceability. The results of these projects will be disseminated via RELAY to ensure that high quality and safe beef products are available for the consumer.
3 traceability projects which can be used to assist marketing are being funded by FIRM:
Development of a protocol for Bio Track — a biometric based animal tracking and tracing system;
Enhanced traceability of poultry meat using biometrics and e-tracking technology (Avian Bio Track);
Biomarkers to Authenticate Irish Grass-fed Beef.
These traceability projects proceeding satisfactorily and are due to be completed in 2009.
495 Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the progress made on the programme for Government proposal to extend mandatory country of origin food labelling to sheep, pig and poultry meat; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28549/08]
Amharc ar fhreagra518 Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the progress made on the programme for Government proposal to extend country of origin labelling requirements in respect of pigmeat and poultry meat; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28572/08]
Amharc ar fhreagraI proposed to take Questions Nos. 495 and 518 together.
My Department, in conjunction with Department of Health and Children, drafted national regulations that would require the country of origin to be indicated on pigmeat, poultry and sheepmeat.
The draft regulations were notified to the European Commission in December 2007 as required by EU legislation. The Commission adopted a negative opinion in relation to the proposal on the grounds that the legislation in question was not in compliance with EU food labelling regulations. The Commission view, which is supported by most Member States, is that only labelling rules that are harmonised at Community level are permissible except in the most exceptional circumstances and that this best facilitates the functioning of the internal market.
When issuing their negative opinion the Commission afforded us the opportunity to provide further information which will be regarded as a new notification. This information has recently been transmitted to the Commission who now have 3 months to consider it before issuing another opinion. The Commission also offered to meet officials to discuss the matter and it is planned that such a meeting will take place next week.
496 Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the progress made on the programme for Government proposal to increase nutritional awareness as part of food advertising and marketing here through the development of nutritional and calorific labelling; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28550/08]
Amharc ar fhreagraFood advertising issues are primarily the remit of the Department of Health and Children/FSAI. However, my Department has encouraged the food industry to provide more nutritional information.
Regulations on nutrition and health claims in force in July 2007 (Reg 1924/06) cover claims on foods marketed in the EU, food supplements, foods for particular nutritional uses. Under Article 13 of the Regulation, Member States were responsible for providing the European Commission with national lists of health claims based on scientific evidence of effectiveness, together with conditions of use applying to them by 31 January 2008.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will assess submissions from all Member States and the European Commission will adopt a final list of permitted health claims by 31st January 2010. The claims on the Community list will be the only health claims allowed on food products from 31st January 2010 onwards.
There are 316 claims on the Irish national list of health claims. All claims submitted via the FSAI submission process will be forwarded to the Commission. However, it is important to note that the claims on the National list have not been endorsed or approved in any way by the FSAI. Until adoption of the Community list, businesses must ensure that they comply with current legislation.
On 11 January 2008, the European Council agreed an amendment to the EU Regulation 1924/2006 on Nutrition and Health Claims made on Foods to introduce a transition period for health claims referring to children's development and health. The key requirement is that food business operators with claims related to children's development and health which have been on the market before 19 January 2007 must submit an immediate application pursuant to the Regulation to the FSAI.
The main aim is to allow consumers to make informed food choices, by ensuring that they receive accurate information and are not misled. Claims for health benefits will have to be adequately substantiated by scientific evidence. Food business operators are responsible for ensuring that claims they make on food labelling, presentation and advertising are authorised.
The Department has reservations about a simplistic traffic lights system, as it would allocate a red traffic light to dairy products such as cheese, of high nutritional value and where there is insufficient intake by children and teenagers, but a green traffic light to diet soft drinks.
The larger food companies have worked in the UK and Ireland on voluntary declaration of Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs) for 5 categories — calories, sugar, fats, saturated fats and salt. A recent IBEC survey based on an average shopping basket of goods (CSO) showed increased use of GDAs.
