Mary White (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)

I welcome the statement made yesterday by the Minister. The programme for Government will further exploit the potential of existing animal traceability systems for the marketing and labelling of food products, extending the mandatory "country of origin" food labelling to sheep, pig and poultry meat, and increasing nutritional awareness as part of our food advertising and marketing through the development of nutritional and calorific labelling.

The need for stronger food labelling legislation is accepted by all. It was Schopenhauer who stated that all truth passes through three stages: it is ridiculed; it is opposed and it is accepted as being self-evident. We have arrived at a stage where authorities and consumers accept that misleading and cryptic food labelling is unacceptable. We have a problem when a chicken leg or a piece of pork from China is mildly processed in this country and then passed off as Irish or when people look at the contents of a jar or packet and see letters and numbers or convoluted phrases which they do not understand and know nothing of their health implications.

As the Green Party spokesperson on rural and community affairs and coming from the rural constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny, I have observed the stark contrast that exists between the indecipherable world of food labelling on products in supermarkets and the guiding principles found in country markets where fresh produce is devoid of harmful additives or confusing labelling and where markets act as incubators for local business by way of the direct and immediate feedback from consumers at the stalls. People go to such markets because the food is fresh and is produced carefully and consistently, and they know what they are getting and where it is from. Such transparency of processes has bred the success which such markets now experience, fostering in turn sustainable regional food economies.

I welcome the report published this week by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, The Labelling of Food in Ireland, and hope that its contents will help to clarify for producers and the public alike what should be contained in food labelling. I will examine the section covering organic food labelling in detail to support the organic food sector. The authority has highlighted the high proportion of producers who fail to comply with labelling legislation. I look forward to additional resources being made available to enforce such laws, particularly if it is envisaged that they will be extended to include sheep, pigs and poultry meat.

I support the Government in its efforts at European level to influence the current review of food labelling legislation. It is inadequate that the guiding principle of EU food labelling legislation is that labelling should not mislead consumers. We must endeavour to make it informative and intelligible.

Food and food safety is a hot topic. There has been a perceptible shift in attitudes among the public. People now expect to know from where and how healthy is the food on the shop shelf. However, in this modern world of limitless choice we have never been more in the dark about what we are offered. The "E" or the number on the contents label must mean something. The country of origin on a label must be the actual country of origin. We have the opportunity to choose a role as the leader in food safety in promoting our clean green sustainable image. We are living in a consumer paradise of immediate gratification with the express delivery of designer foods and designer genes — I mean genes spelt with a "G". It is time for the merits of quality food, produced in a quality environment, to be clearly labelled for the betterment of our farmers and discerning consumers so a reputation for quality food, clearly labelled and marketed is a source of local and national pride in Ireland. I have every confidence that both Departments involved will deliver this goal.

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