Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Although all the findings of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, FSAI, report are serious the findings on horse meat contamination could potentially do the most damage because of the nature of the meat involved and the quantity of horse meat found in one sample. I welcome the steps taken by the supermarkets to remove product from their shelves and to reassure consumers. This is a serious issue because food exports from Ireland are vital to our economic well-being. Many jobs depend on the meat sector, including those of farmers, workers in distribution and workers in the processing industry etc. Our reputation as a safe, quality producer of food with a high level of traceability of product is vital. We need to get to the bottom of this affair quickly and we need to take all necessary steps to protect our reputation. Through decisive action the Minister must ensure that our people and all our customers worldwide maintain their faith in the quality and integrity of our meat and food products. We also need to ensure that labelling reflects the origin and contents of all ingredients in food products and that it is made a serious offence to give misleading information in this regard.

I emphasise that in one case approximately 30% of the meat content was horse meat. This is not cross-contamination but the use of horse meat as a major constituent of the burger in question. Given that millions of burgers are made every year, the chances of picking a burger subject to isolated once-off mistaken contamination from a random sample - if it was purely a random sample - are less than the chances of winning the national lottery. Therefore, I have several questions for the Minister. What was the statistical chance of a random sample picking up a once-off isolated contamination? When did the Department and the Minister become aware of this issue? What actions did the Minister take to deal with it? Why did he not immediately make the public aware of the report? What steps have been taken to establish the source of the ingredients? Does the Minister have evidence to show that this horse meat did not originate from within the country? Is the Minister willing to come into the Dáil next week to debate this issue in detail in order that we can reassure the public at home and abroad about the safety of the product we put on consumer shelves?

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