Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is a very respected organisation in the North of Ireland, namely, the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which estimates that 70,000 horses have disappeared from the island of Ireland during the past 18 months and that they either ended up in the UK food chain or were at least slaughtered in that jurisdiction. Will the Minister comment on this matter? In light of the information I have just provided, will he indicate whether there is a need to carry out further investigations or engage in further co-operation with his counterparts in the Six Counties, England, Scotland and Wales in respect of this issue?

I wish to focus on the percentage of horsemeat in burgers and the sample which contained 29% equine DNA. How many burgers containing that level of equine DNA were produced by Silvercrest? Is there any estimate or indication in that regard?

Have the retained samples in Silvercrest Foods been removed from the factory and examined? I assume that they are samples of frozen food so they have a shelf life of 12 months and retained samples would be held on-site. Have they been checked? Assuming that the retained samples have been checked, how long has the practice been in place at both plants and in England?

Obviously there is a cost associated with monitoring. If the industry introduced DNA monitoring tomorrow morning the producers or processors would have to pay for it. Does the Minister think that it should be compulsory for processors to carry out DNA tests? Does he think that legislation should be introduced to compel processors to carry out DNA testing on-site, and to retain records, similar to a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, HACCP, food safety system?

Is there a reason that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, in conjunction with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, but perhaps more for the Department, never engaged in DNA testing at the processing plants? Will the Minister revisit monitoring now? DNA tests have been carried out on chicken and foods for human consumption prior to 2012. It appears odd to me that no DNA testing for horsemeat content was done until 2012 when DNA testing has been carried out on chicken fillets, smoked salmon, smoked fish and so on since 2005. Was there a reason for doing that?

I have a question on the suppliers regarding the ingredients that we spoke about today, the fillings, trimmings and so on. Is there a list available of all of the suppliers of ingredients into the State? Does it name the factories from where the ingredients come? If not, why not? Is there a need to carry out a technical and comprehensive review of all of the suppliers of ingredients into the Irish State? Ultimately the matter is of concern to Irish consumers but little has been said about them. There has been talk about the multiples and the processors but it is the consumers who ate the horsemeat burger that we should be concerned about. Consumers went into Tesco or one of the burger outlets and bought what they thought to be a beefburger because that was what was printed on the label. It later transpired that the burgers contained horsemeat. If the law is not tight enough to protect the consumer then it must be revisited urgently.

I listened to the Minister earlier when he outlined that there may be a need to revisit the consumer protection laws. If the consumer is not sufficiently protected by the current consumer protection legislation then it must be revisited urgently. We cannot have a repeat of the scenario whereby a consumer enters a retail outlet, whether it is a fast food outlet, Tesco or any shop, and purchases a food product that is clearly not what it says on the tin. Pigmeat is one thing but a horsemeat product and horse DNA is a different matter.

I commend the Food Safety Authority of Ireland on its testing regime. It clearly outlined that there was no food safety risk associated with the particular product in this instance. However, horsemeat is not what individual consumers here seek to buy in supermarkets even if it is only 10% or 29% because horsemeat is unsafe. Food safety experts in Scotland and leading environmental health officers in England have clearly stated that horsemeat is not made for human consumption. There is also the issue of the reputation of Irish meat that is exported to 62 million people in the UK. A real job of work needs to be done to rebuild that reputation. The steps taken now must be thorough and there must be no wriggle room. Those that are found to be culpable must face the full rigour of the law. I hope that the Minister will make every resource available, through his Department and the Garda Síochána, to ensure that the final outcome is swift and fast because four months have passed. I appreciate that technical tests must be carried out but the consumer deserves to see that a final outcome is reached as soon as possible.