Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

There are EU harmonised rules in place that govern the importation of animal products to minimise any risks that might be associated with trade with third countries. It is a general requirement that animal products imported in the European Union from third countries meet standards at least equivalent to those required for production in and trade between EU member states. All meat imports must therefore come from third countries or areas of third countries approved for export to the EU. The Food and Veterinary Office of the EU carries out audits of the controls in place in third countries.

The FVO carries out inspections to ensure that only establishments that meet hygiene and health standards equivalent to those operating within the EU are approved. Exporting establishments must have standards equivalent to the requirements for EU export establishments, effective control systems and supervision by the competent authorities and traceability and labelling in accordance with systems approved by the FVO.

Where there are concerns with regard to the effectiveness of controls being operated in an approved third country, the EU Commission, in consultation with the standing committee on animal health and the food chain, may introduce specific controls by means of a safeguard measure to ensure the protection of human and animal health. I fully support the policy that animal products imported into the EU from third countries meet standards at least equivalent to those required for production in and trade between EU member states.

In this context the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Coughlan, wrote last month to the Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection on the issue of sanitary rules applying to the import of livestock products, especially beef, into the EU. In the letter, the Minister raised the matter of equivalence on the specific and important issues of animal traceability, controls on veterinary medicines, prohibited substances and residue monitoring programmes in these countries and in particular with regard to Brazilian beef in view of its increasing presence on the European market. The Minister requested the Commission to consider the matter and invited it to put forward appropriate proposals before the EU standing committee on the food chain and animal health.

Irish farmers are required to ensure their production systems and farm practices fully comply with a wide range of EU directives on important matters including traceability, animal health and welfare and consumer protection. These all have significant in-built cost factors, and bearing in mind that our beef farmers are in competition on European and international markets with beef from low cost producers such as Brazil, we will continue to seek real equivalence in these areas, both in discussions within the EU and in the context of the WTO talks on market access.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

With regard to labelling we have indicated an intention to extend the country of origin labelling for beef to the restaurant and catering sector and the necessary provisions will be included in the Irish Medicines Board (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2005, which is currently before this session of the Oireachtas. Beef labelling is currently governed by comprehensive EU regulations which were introduced in 2000 and are underpinned by a full national animal identification and traceability system. These compulsory labelling regulations require all operators and organisations marketing beef within the EU to provide information on the label to enable the beef to be traced back to the animals from which it was derived and must include details on the slaughterhouse, de-boning hall and the country in which the animal was born and reared.

These requirements apply to all beef sold at retail level regardless of whether that beef was produced within the EU or in a third country. Where beef is imported into the EU from a third country and all the above details are not 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. This information must accompany the beef at retail level, including up to the point of delivery into hotels, restaurants and catering establishments. These regulations are enforced by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. The various representative bodies including the Irish Hotels Federation, the Restaurants Association of Ireland and the two vintners groups, following discussions with my Department, have all agreed to recommend to their members to provide this information to their customers on a voluntary basis in advance of the mandatory legal requirement. It is expected that the voluntary code will be in place in the near future.

Regarding the labelling of poultry meat, there are EU regulations which provide for the labelling of unprocessed poultry meat at retail level. The regulations require such meat to be labelled with the information regarding class, price, condition, registered number of slaughterhouse or cutting plant and, where imported from a third country, an indication of country of origin. There are no specific EU regulations governing the labelling of pigmeat or sheepmeat beyond the general food labelling regulations which do not require country of origin information. However, we intend to pursue further the question of labelling of other meats at EU level.

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