Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and wish him well in his new portfolio. He has served with distinction in a number of Government Departments over the years and he now faces a new and important challenge in the area of food safety and preventative medicine.

The question of food safety is of interest to every family and person in this country. Fine Gael has a certain number of priorities in terms of marketing of Irish food, consumer issues and food imports. As the Minister of State has heard over the last few years from my colleagues in the other House and from our spokespersons, we believe there should be a single food label for all Irish food products — a "Green Ireland" type of label which would be simple and easily recognisable and could be used in both the domestic and international market. A label of this type would emphasise the ability of the Irish farmer to supply healthy, environmentally friendly and safe foods. We are also adamant that the consumer must be fully protected. This can only be achieved by ensuring supplies of safe, traceable and clearly labelled products which provide good value for money. In addition, there will always be imported food, and we must seek and secure new regulations at EU level to ensure that all foodstuffs, particularly meat products, imported from outside the EU will be clearly labelled as such and that they will meet the same strict and exacting standards that apply to products produced by EU farmers.

Over the past 20 or 30 years the focus of the food budget has changed and the proportion of family income spent on food has decreased. When we joined the EEC in 1973, people were spending 30% to 35% of their weekly incomes on food, whereas now they spend a significantly lower percentage of their incomes, perhaps 8% to 10%.

We must question whether cheap food can be quality food. This issue was addressed some time ago by Professor Patrick Wall who warned consumers of the quality of cheap imported foods. It is not possible to produce quality, safe, premium food at knock-down prices. We must send out to the Irish consumer the message that the production of quality, safe, wholesome food comes at a price. We must be concerned about some of the food imported from outside the European Union and placed on the shelves of big chain stores.

Meat products imported from Asia and Third World countries are often reprocessed by way of the addition of breadcrumbs, as in the case of chicken, and deemed to have been produced in Ireland. We must be careful to ensure that type of labelling is not permitted in the future and that only meat produced within the European Union, and in Ireland in particular, is labelled as such. Fine Gael is adamant that the green Ireland labelling system be put in place as soon as possible. The consumer is king and he or she will decide what price is appropriate. We must ensure that when consumers make a choice in respect of quality, price and value for money, they know exactly what they are paying for and what they are obtaining. I am concerned that some of the cheaper foodstuffs which sometimes masquerade as foodstuffs produced in the European Union are not so produced and may be of a quality with which we would not be comfortable.

I readily concede that the Food Safety Authority of Ireland has done a great deal of work in terms of building up a national system of health and safety regulation for producers and retailers. I understand it is involved in various media campaigns informing consumers and producers about clear and accurate food labelling. However, as I stated earlier, an issue arises in respect of misleading labelling of foodstuffs imported from outside the European Union. This type of misleading labelling is worse than no labelling at all. The voluntary controls and inspections, which we hoped would resolve this problem, have not resulted in change. For this reason and to ensure the consumer is aware of where products are produced, we must introduce the green labelling system. The loopholes in our existing legislation are allowing products produced outside of Ireland, such as chicken from Asia or beef from Brazil, to be passed off as Irish products following minimal processing here. This is not acceptable. I hope the Minister of State and his Department will tackle this issue.

I mentioned earlier the good work being done by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. Part of its work and research has identified the false labelling of products, something which must be of concern to us. The European Union, European Commission and European political system are obviously to the fore in trying to promote food safety and health. However, some of the inspections carried out by the European Union in respect of foodstuffs produced outside Europe and imported into Europe have identified inferior hygiene and quality standards yet these foodstuffs continue to be appear on supermarket shelves and, in some case, on the restaurant table. The lack of labelling in this regard denies the consumer the right to make an informed choice.

An issue about which people are now speaking in terms of quality food is that of food miles and how far food has to travel from the farm gate to the table. Most meat consumed in Ireland 40 or 50 years ago, pre-European Union accession, was produced on local farms. This has changed and we are now advised that the average distance travelled by the average food product can be approximately 3,000 miles, making food less nutritious than local produce and more at risk of damage through transportation and handling. The absence of a clear guaranteed Irish label makes choosing Irish produce a trial. There is a much greater willingness on the part of Irish consumers nowadays, as a result of our increased wealth, to seek out better quality food and to pay the slightly higher price that such food costs. It is often not possible for the consumer to make that choice given the lack of a clear guaranteed Irish labelling system. It is important we try to rectify this situation.

My colleagues in Fine Gael have done a great deal of work during the past three or four years in respect of the rip-off, in terms of the cost of food, being endured by the Irish consumer. One of our most recent surveys indicated that shoppers are often ripped-off by mark-ups of more than 200% on basic food items by supermarkets. We must be concerned about this and try to tackle the problem. Consumers must be guaranteed quality, safe food and they must be permitted to make healthy choices.

Experience in the United Kingdom has shown that shoppers want to purchase healthy food and that following the introduction there of a proper labelling system, sales of unhealthy food decreased by 40%. The Minister of State referred to the role of food in health promotion, disease prevention, cancer prevention and in tackling obesity levels. We have a long way to go in this debate. The debate on obesity and the role of quality food in health promotion and disease prevention has only begun. It is important the Minister of State leads this debate.

Again, perhaps because of our increased wealth and increased disposable income, people are consuming greater volumes of foodstuffs that can lead to obesity and an increased risk of heart disease and cancer. We must continue to promote the consumption of healthy, quality, nutritious, natural food not only in terms of it being better for one's diet and the most satisfying, but also in terms of it being the best food from a disease prevention point of view. The Minister of State's comments in respect of disease prevention and his work in that regard are important. I wish him well in that regard.

The importation of Brazilian beef is causing serious concern for Irish farmers. I accept the importation of Brazilian beef perhaps relates more to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food than to the Department of Health and Children. However, the Irish beef industry is in crisis and Irish farmers see Brazilian beef being imported at will into the European Union and being placed on supermarket shelves in Ireland and Europe. This is a source of great distress to the Irish agriculture sector and it should be of concern to consumers because of the clear lack of health and quality checks on Brazilian beef.

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Coughlan, has been remiss at European Union level in not tackling this problem in a more serious fashion, and in not seeking a full ban on the importation of Brazilian beef. The standards we have in Ireland and the standards that are demanded throughout the European Union are much higher than the standards being imposed on Brazilian and other South American farmers. It is not good enough that one set of standards apply at home, yet Brazilian and other South American beef can be imported and placed on Irish supermarket shelves and tables without strict controls applying.

I urge the Minister of State, Deputy Gallagher, to raise the issue of the importation of Brazilian beef with the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food because in the long run it will not just be the income of Irish farmers that will suffer but the health of consumers.