Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

The dairy industry in my part of the country would not be enamoured of the idea of traffic light labelling — I heard this directly from industry members, particularly with regard to cheese and other dairy products. As issues arise they are considered by the different agencies working in this area. Very quick action was taken following the consumer liaison panel's highlighting of consumer concerns on the issue and subsequently the food labelling group and an interdepartmental agency implementation group were established. All except two of the 21 recommendations made by the food labelling group have been implemented. We want to see additional progress on food labelling and this is an issue we highlight consistently at European Union level. I have outlined our preferred method of dealing with the matter. With regard to traffic light labelling, the recommended daily allowance is another suggestion put forward as a method suitable for labelling.

We are determined to make progress within the European Union on this issue. The directorate dealing with health and consumer protection has held a consultation process on the issue to which we submitted a strong submission through the Department of Health and Children. The Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Coughlan, can verify that we have received more positive responses from Ministers of the other member states than we would have got some time ago with regard to the need for the European Union to have better systems of food labelling.

We are determined to make progress on the issue. While some progress has been made, we are determined to make further progress on issues such as substantial transformation and country of origin. There are serious obstacles, but the preferred route is to get European Union-wide recognition of the need for country of origin labelling.

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