Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I am delighted to see the Minister of State back in the House. I hardly got to talk to him to congratulate him on his new position, which I do now. It seems like almost 200 years since we served together in the House, although a little less time has probably passed. I am delighted to see see him wearing the hat of responsibility for food and agriculture. He will be able to achieve a great deal during his period in office.

I am particularly pleased that the Minister of State is here to take the Food Provenance Bill, on which I am delighted to have received a great deal of help during the years. That assistance has helped me to realise what we need to do and what it is important to achieve. I remember well going to a customer panel in Superquinn perhaps in 1989. Some women had arrived before me. They told me that just before I had arrived, they had been talking about the radio ads which said of a particular product, "It has a quare name but it is great stuff". They said that having heard such ads, they were prompted to discuss their concern and worry about the food they ate and asked me if I could put their minds at rest. That certainly put me on this path. I am delighted that the Minister of State is here for what will be a very useful Seanad debate. The debate should be constructive and stimulating, given that this is an issue of importance, not just for consumers but also for producers, processors and retailers.

I spent most of my career as a retailer in the food sector and the issues addressed in the Bill are close to my heart. I am proud of the strong reputation and relationships Ireland enjoys internationally on the basis of the quality and consistency of the foods we produce. Our farmers produce the finest beef which is in demand around the world. That is recognised. We have been earning a strong reputation for producing high-quality dairy products, with the result that Dairygold and Glanbia are highly regarded international brands. We have been making quite a name for ourselves in the alcohol sector also, with brands such as Guinness, Baileys and Jameson. However, if we are to maintain our standing, we must not rest on our laurels. We must ensure we work hard and collectively to enhance Ireland's reputation as a producer of high-quality food. We must look for opportunities to differentiate ourselves from our competitors in an increasingly crowded international marketplace. We can do this by sticking steadfastly to our drive for high quality and consistency and by being innovative in the presentation of our products through openness and transparency on all aspects of food provenance and the stages of production. That is what the Bill aims to achieve. There are many other provisions which might have been included in the Bill, but I have decided to concentrate on the issue of food provenance at this stage.

The provenance of beef has been an important issue for many years. After the event referred to involving the customer panel, I wondered how we could do something. I later discovered ours was the first supermarket to guarantee traceability of beef from the pasture to the plate. We later introduced the traceback system in 2001. We had introduced a paper-based traceability programme as far back as 1991 when the need for consumers to be informed about the traceability of meat was unheard of. We could not guarantee any more than the fact that there was good husbandry on the farm, but we had a sign with the farm and a photograph of the farmer. The information was also listed on the checkout receipt. Traceability has since become increasingly important for consumers of many other foods. As policymakers and legislators, we must seek to act in the consumers' basic interests and give them the transparency they need and to which they are entitled.

The passing-off of horsemeat in beef products has brought the issue of food provenance to the fore. I compliment the Food Safety Authority of Ireland on exposing what was ultimately identified as a Europe-wide problem, possibly wider. While the scandal has, undoubtedly, shaken the confidence and trust of consumers, it has caused them to be more aware of the importance of food provenance, from where food originates. They have a right to know where the ingredients of a product have been sourced, where the item was manufactured and where it was packed. They should no longer be kept in the dark on the real origins of the food they eat.

The food labelling legislation currently applied in Ireland derives mainly from the European Union in the form of regulations and directives from Brussels. While the European Union is moving in the right direction towards increasing the level of information presented to consumers, the Union has been slow to introduce the rules that would require producers and retailers to be fully transparent about food provenance. We have strong labelling requirements in certain areas such as for beef and fish, but the time for taking incremental steps has passed. The horsemeat crisis was a watershed and, as law makers and as a nation with a strong reputation in food production, we must now move to equip consumers with all available information on the source of the food they consume. I refer not only to the original source but also everything that goes into it.

In order to make an informed decision in any aspect of life, we need to establish the facts, weigh up the options and consider the risks. When purchasing most items of food, consumers are unable to make informed decisions because we, as law makers, and the producers have failed to ensure they are presented with all available information. That is what the Bill seeks to change. It does not seek to oust any existing law on food or meat labelling. The requirements contained in the Bill are intended to be additional to existing statutory requirements.

Food labelling laws applied in Ireland derive mainly from the European Union, but that does not mean that Senators, or the Minister, are precluded from introducing additional food labelling requirements. The main EU law in this area, EU Directive 2000/13, explicitly permits a member state to introduce additional requirements in the labelling and presentation of foods in circumstances where these requirements can be justified on certain grounds such as the protection of public health, the prevention of fraud, the protection of industrial and commercial property rights, indications of provenance, registered designations of origin and the prevention of unfair competition. I have been guided in the development of the Bill by a leading expert in European food law who is in the Visitors Gallery. Mr. Raymond O'Rourke has been hugely helpful to me and I also had the help of Mr. Brian Hunt. I am satisfied that the proposals contained in the Bill fall squarely within the terms of Article 18 of EU Directive 2000/13 and can be justified as being required on three specific grounds, namely, requiring indications of provenance, the protection of public health and the prevention of fraud.

The Bill is about informing and empowering the consumer. I want to equip the consumer with all key information on the product on the shelf, be it on the origins of ingredients, the place of manufacture, the date of manufacture and the place of packing, and also with other new requirements regarding meat and fish. One of the key innovations in the Bill is the requirement for food provenance infographics. The infographics will set out the information in a straightforward way and I have tried to avoid using cryptic codes and numbers. The idea is to present the information to consumers in a way they can easily understand it.

I have had a look at food products in the past few days. The current food labelling requirements are not so easy to understand. When I look at a litre of milk at home, I see a little oval diagram with the codes IE, 1419 and EC. On butter I see the same diagram with the codes IE, 1087 and EC. I have no clue what these codes mean. There is no way a shopper can easily know what they mean. A consumer should not need a degree in food science to understand food labelling, which is almost the case. We need to make it easy for consumers to know exactly what they are getting. The day of pulling the wool over the eyes of the consumer is long gone and we, as legislators in Ireland and at EU level, need to ensure our laws reflect a demand for greater transparency for consumers. There is such a demand and consumers will respond to it.

I will outline some of the key aspects of the Bill.