Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

They have literally just come off the presses. I will have copies distributed to Members immediately.

Two months ago to the day - 14 January - my Department was first informed by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, FSAI, of its finding of 29% equine DNA in a single beef burger sold in Tesco and manufactured at the Silvercrest plant in County Monaghan. This finding in the FSAI meat authenticity survey resulted in the immediate launching of an official investigation by my Department. This investigation, initially involving the FSAI and my Department's veterinary inspectorate and audit team, was broadened to include the Department's special investigation unit and the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation. On 5 February I appeared before the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I gave a detailed statement to the committee and both Professor Alan Reilly of the FSAI and I answered many questions on a series of matters. The controversy has moved on considerably since that date and meat products have been withdrawn in many countries. The disclosure In Ireland of the adulteration of beef products with equine DNA has prompted other authorities to examine the issue. It transpired that what had been uncovered was a pan-European problem of fraudulent mislabelling of certain beef products. Some 26 of the 27 member states of the European Union have now been affected by the problem which has also been uncovered outside the European Union. It became a global problem, affecting some large global companies and international food brands.

Today, I am publishing a report on the official investigation and related matters. It will demonstrate both the complexity of the problem uncovered and the thoroughness with which it was approached. I propose to refer to three main areas, but before I do so I wish to clearly state consumer confidence and trust are the most vital components of our policy on the wider food industry. Without consumer confidence and trust, there is no future for any of the participants in the food supply chain, regardless of whether they are retailers, processors, traders or primary producers. There is a clear onus on all participants to ensure safe and quality food products are placed on the market. Ireland's reputation as a food producing country rests on all participants fulfilling this responsibility. Any potential risk to that reputation, albeit in a relatively small segment of the food sector, was the basis for the immediate launching of the official investigation and the actions I have taken in the course thereof.

I wish to highlight a number of points. The equine DNA found in consignments of frozen beef products was labelled to be of Polish origin. The investigation has not found any evidence of adulteration with horsemeat of these consignments in Ireland, but, following our enquiries, there are clear concerns about the activities of traders and intermediaries operating outside the State. Information uncovered in the investigation has been passed to the appropriate authorities and Europol. We are also working with other member states in this regard. That is not to suggest intermediaries in the supply chain were the sole cause of the problem. The investigation has also shown direct trade with Poland. One Polish company the product of which was found positive for equine DNA arranged to collect the consignment and reimburse the Irish operator, QK Meats.

Details of the investigation outcome in respect of the main companies involved are provided in the report.

The investigation concludes that in the case of Silvercrest and Rangeland Meats, there was no evidence that they deliberately purchased or used horsemeat in their production processes or that these companies were re-labelling or tampering with inward consignments but, given the reputational issues for the Irish food industry as a whole, the practices by two companies of not respecting customer specifications, in the case of Silvercrest, and of knowingly withholding information about problems in the supply chain, in case of QK Cold Stores, are totally unacceptable. Likewise, I am extremely concerned at the failure of ABP as a group to maintain proper oversight of Silvercrest, particularly given its position in the Irish food industry. We have a right to expect better from the Irish food industry. The companies have let themselves down as well as risking reputational damage to the Irish food sector as a whole.

B&F Meats was found to be involved in mislabelling of a limited quantity of horsemeat for export to the Czech Republic. While the company claims that no fraudulent intent was involved, the placing of a false label on a product and the question of instituting legal proceedings in this respect remains under active consideration by my Department.

When the problem widened to include other member states, I convened a meeting of other Ministers and the Commission in Brussels, which led to the establishment of an EU-wide testing programme both for equine DNA in beef products and phenylbutazone in horse carcases. The results of these tests will be published in mid-April and will form the basis for consideration of any future EU actions. It was also agreed that Europol should be involved in terms of co-ordinating the investigations being carried out by individual member states.

Acting in my role as Chairman of the Council, I also arranged a special debate on this matter under the Irish Presidency at the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers meeting. The Council agreed that it would keep the matter under review, and we are doing this.

Apart from the EU response, a range of additional actions have been put in place in Ireland at my instigation. In addition to the EU programme, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, FSAI, and my Department met representatives of the meat processing, retailing and catering sectors and agreed a protocol for DNA testing of beef products to check for adulteration with horsemeat. The following categories of food are being tested - prepackaged beef products on sale to the final consumer or to mass caterers, beef products offered for sale without prepackaging to consumers or to mass caterers, and meat ingredients used in processed beef products. It was agreed that the results would be made public. The first set of results was published in early March. Most of the 957 tests were negative except for products already identified as positive. In other words, there was nothing new found.

In addition to the EU-wide control programme for residues of phenylbutazone, my Department introduced a positive release programme for horses destined for the food chain, in other words, we are now testing everything. This programme will run for an initial period of one month and the results, once published, will be assessed to inform future policy.

Although the Department will continue its involvement with investigations being carried out in other member states and pursue any issues arising, the report draws a series of conclusions and identifies possible further actions. First, it is clear that the focus of controls which heretofore was on food safety will henceforth have to encompass checks on food authenticity. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland's DNA testing protocol already in place in Ireland addresses this requirement. It is right that the Irish industry should lead the way in this respect, but I will pursue this issue in Brussels to ensure a level playing field in respect of controls applying to EU food production. I will also pursue the issue of requiring irregularities regarding food authenticity to be reported. If we had that legal protection, we might have got the information from QK Cold Stores much earlier.

This episode has revealed the extent and complexity of the involvement of traders and agents in the food supply chain. With the legal power already in place I have decided that all such intermediaries operating in Ireland will be registered as food service operators from now on.

A number of changes are warranted regarding EU labelling regulations such as provisions covering intermediate labels and the reporting of mislabelling incidences, as well as practical steps on the use of security features and more detail on commercial documentation. These will be pursued at EU level as appropriate.

I want to refer to the related but separate issue of the horse identification and traceability problems. I should first express my concern at the incident which occurred only last Friday in Ossory Meats, a horse abattoir. That incident is detailed in the report. I had previously decided that, in the context of the measures we are taking to improve horse controls, my Department should take responsibility for the supervision of this and another horse abattoir previously under the control of local authorities. What gave rise to the incident at Ossory Meats and the subsequent suspension of the plant is totally unacceptable and will be pursued with full vigour. When Members read the report they will know exactly what I am talking about.

In general, while the investigation did not uncover any illegal introduction of horsemeat into the food chain in Ireland, we have accelerated our review of procedures in regard to horse identification and controls. We believe there is need for significant changes here to move horse traceability to the same level as cattle identification, where systems were developed in response to BSE in the mid 1990s. These changes are dealt with in the report and I will pursue them within my Department with my officials.

Regarding this entire problem, the fact the official control system in Ireland uncovered what is a global problem in terms of the serious mislabelling of beef and the manner in which we have addressed the issue shows Ireland to be at the forefront of control systems in this area. In time, when the issue is fully addressed at EU level, it will stand to us in continuing to build the reputation of Irish food products.

I thank everybody in my Department, in the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, and in the Garda fraud squad who have worked night and day on this problem for two months and who have provided us, at no extra cost to the taxpayer, with a report that is detailed, accurate and that can be the basis for policy change that is needed in the future. I am indebted to them for the time, detail and seriousness with which they have taken on this challenge, whether that be within processing facilities, interviewing meat traders, travelling to Poland, going through, in a painstaking way, audits of different food service operators, or detailed briefings for me, day after day, for the past two months.

I hope this report will be welcomed by Members of the House. I will be bringing it before the Oireachtas committee when we will have a detailed discussion on it, and its consequences, to allow us assess the measures I am proposing to introduce, on which I want to get input from Opposition spokespeople also. Ultimately, this is about learning lessons from something that should never have happened that led from sloppy management and fraudulent behaviour. We will learn lessons from this and have a stronger and more credible food-----

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