Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

The regulations governing the provision of country of origin information on beef in the catering sector were introduced by the Minister for Health and Children. Responsibility for enforcement of the regulations lies with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, FSAI.

Officials of my Department have had extensive discussions with the Department of Health and Children and the FSAI during the drafting of the regulations and since the regulations were made. These discussions included aspects relating to enforcement.

There are more than 44,000 food businesses in Ireland of which over 29,000 are in the service sector, which includes caterers. These are inspected on a routine basis by the environmental health officers in the Health Service Executive, HSE, operating under a service contract with the FSAI.

Checks on compliance with the Health (Country of Origin of Beef) Regulations are being incorporated into routine hygiene and food safety inspections by HSE environmental health officers for establishments covered by these regulations.

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