Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

In my role as Minister of State with responsibility for health promotion and food safety, I welcome this opportunity to discuss these issues in the House. We live in a society in which the availability of fresh, wholesome, varied and, above all, safe food is taken for granted. Undoubtedly, standards of production and distribution of food have improved significantly and one can now walk into shops in almost any part of the country and buy foodstuffs, the existence of which one would have been unaware only a generation ago. Moreover, while I am conscious that I am showing my age in this respect, foods such as oranges and bananas, which were once infrequent treats, are now a completely unremarked-on part of our daily diet. However, such welcome developments have given rise to their own challenges and I will address this issue in the course of my contribution.

In this new period of prosperity, previously exotic foods are consumed routinely and increased affluence has led to more foreign travel and greater attendances at restaurants. Our palates have become more sophisticated and our tastes more varied. Consequently, the food industry has expanded significantly. According to Bord Bia, the total turnover of food and drink for 2006 was almost €20 billion. The agriculture and food industry is now the largest indigenous sector and agriculture alone employs 109,000 people. It accounts for more than half of indigenous exports, contributes significantly to rural development and represents almost one tenth of the economy.

Against this background, the need to assure the consumer of the safety of Irish food, thereby helping to safeguard public health and the interests of this industry, has reached a new level of importance. It has also reached a new level of complexity. It is necessary to meet this challenge with a proactive, long-term approach, including the provision of a robust legislative framework and through the provision and efficient use of resources within this framework. This approach must be guided by science while being informed by the needs of the food industry's key stakeholders, namely, producers, processors, caterers, retailers and, most importantly, consumers.

Members will recall that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, in the wake of various crises that besieged the European food industry, Ireland was one of the first EU member states to restructure and modernise its food safety regime. The establishment of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, in which the power to implement national food policy was vested, freed the Department of Health and Children and what is now the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to concentrate on the formulation of national policy and to represent Ireland's interests at international level. While one should never become complacent, I believe this arrangement has worked well.

Some of the major achievements since this restructuring include a dramatic decline in the numbers of BSE cases in the national herd, which is due largely to the strict enforcement of food safety controls throughout the food chain. There has been an increase in the number of food premises that have put in place food safety management systems based on the principles of the hazard analysis and critical control point, HACCP, system. Moreover, there has been a reduction of salt levels in processed foods in partnership with industry and a reduction in the incidence of salmonella in poultry flocks and in eggs produced in Ireland.

There are two key areas in food safety, namely, guaranteeing to the greatest possible extent that food is safe and the provision of clear and accurate information to consumers regarding what they are eating. Almost all food legislation now originates at EU level and a key change being faced at present by all stakeholders in the food chain concerns the implementation of the new hygiene regulations, which represent the single biggest change in food legislation in recent years. The new legal obligations will have an impact on all food operations in Ireland, of which there are now approximately 44,000.

The cornerstone of the new regulations is the requirement for traceability in the food chain. The need for this has been widely discussed in the media and many different sectors of industry. In particular, traceability helps to facilitate the withdrawal of food and enables consumers to be provided with targeted and accurate information concerning implicated products. Current regulations require food business operators to have a so-called one-up and one-down system for traceability. In others words, they must keep records of those from whom they purchase products and to whom they sell such products.

Well-developed traceability systems provide food business operators with more than the simple ability to withdraw or recall food effectively, if required. The ability to ensure the provenance of food and to satisfy consumers who need to know where their food comes from is also much easier. While traceability is a legal requirement, it also makes good business sense. There are few things worse for a food business operator than to be obliged to recall its product in the full glare of the media and the associated public attention that goes with such events. It is at the time of such crises that advance planning is of major benefit and those companies that have crisis management plans in place usually will be able to limit reputation damage and economic loss.

In regard to the provision of information, food labelling should provide sufficient information to help the consumer make an informed purchasing decision. Proper labelling should encourage healthier food choice and may provide industry with incentive to reformulate foods that are less healthy such as, for example, those containing large quantities of trans fatty acids.

The Government recognises the need for well-regulated labelling of foodstuffs. The Department of Health and Children and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food have produced a significant body of work in this area. In the past two years, four pieces of EU labelling legislation have been transposed. At national level, 2006 saw the enactment of primary legislation under which the beef labelling requirements on country of origin were extended to the catering sector. This year saw the implementation of a consultation programme on country of origin labelling that culminated in draft national legislation. This legislation is intended to extend mandatory country of origin food labelling to sheep, pig and poultry meats. The two Departments are working closely together to make progress on the proposed legislation. It will be necessary to notify the draft legislation to the European Commission to allow it and other member states an opportunity to comment.

While much work has been done in the area of labelling by Departments, it must be recognised that industry also has a responsibility in this regard. With this in mind, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland recently produced a new report on food labelling in Ireland and implemented a national campaign to highlight the importance of correct food product labelling. The report, The Labelling of Food in Ireland 2007, aims to dispel confusion as to what a food label should contain. This will ultimately assist food businesses in ensuring correct labelling and will benefit consumers by enabling them to make informed purchasing decisions based on clear and accurate labelling information.

The 140-page report brings together in detail all Irish and European law governing the labelling of food. It provides specific information and guidelines on labelling with regard to ingredients, additives, storage instructions, nutrition, novel foods and genetically modified foods. In addition, there are special sections covering organic food labelling and specific requirements for commodities such as beef, chocolate, fruit juices and milk and sugar products.

As with all areas of food safety, there is an international dimension to this work. At present, EU food labelling legislation is harmonised by Council Directive 2000/13/EC, which was transposed into national legislation in 2002. To date, there have been seven amendments to the transposing regulations which apply to the labelling of pre-packaged foodstuffs for sale to the ultimate consumer or for supply to mass caterers. These regulations are based on the principle that food labelling should not mislead consumers. While labelling should be clear, consistent and understandable, the current diversity of legislation, coupled with the range of regulations and directives in force, presents a complex and potentially confusing matrix. It has therefore been recommended that the provisions currently spread across a number of texts be recast into a single simplified text. A working group has been set up at EU level to consider changes to legislation in this area as part of the Commission's overall review of food labelling legislation. As part of this process, Ireland submitted its particular concerns on food labelling to the Commission. It is intended that the Commission will present the outcome of the working group's deliberations to the European Parliament in December. Both the Department of Health and Children and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will be working closely with the European Commission on this important issue.

I referred earlier to the increased complexity of the food safety area. This is exemplified by the advent of foodstuffs containing genetically modified organisms, GMOs. Although Ireland has traditionally adopted a precautionary but positive approach, the Irish public appears to be divided on this issue. Government policy in this area is currently being re-evaluated to ensure that as far as possible the views of supporters and opponents of the use of GMOs are taken into account.

I also mentioned that there were some areas of concern with regard to health promotion. In general, there is much crossover between food safety and health promotion. The importance of making an informed choice regarding food is emphasised by current research which suggests that just under 30% of cancer deaths are potentially avoidable by diet modification. This makes diet second only to tobacco as a preventable cause of cancer. To help the consumer to modify his or her diet for the better, the health promotion unit of the Department of Health and Children has, since the early 1990s, co-ordinated an annual national healthy eating campaign which aims to promote awareness of specific healthy eating messages and to provide practical information to the general public. These campaigns have enhanced public awareness on healthy eating guidelines in terms of increasing fruit and vegetable and fibre intake, reducing fat intake and maintaining a healthy weight. In addition, the Department is currently developing a national nutritional strategy.

Healthy eating is just one component of health promotion. The World Health Organisation has stated that regular physical activity is a significant element in the prevention and control of cancer. There is consistent evidence that regular physical activity in some form is associated with a reduction in the risk of colon cancer. The protective effect of physical activity improves with increasing levels of activity. Twelve physical activity co-ordinators have been appointed in the HSE and structures have been put in place to provide advice and support in a number of settings, including schools, workplaces and communities, particularly targeting younger and older people.

The Irish food environment has changed much in recent years and will change further in years to come. The robustness of our food safety system has been severely tested and has so far passed. I am confident it will also pass any future tests.