Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Feargal Quinn for bringing forward this welcome Bill. He has been consistent on this issue for several years. He has raised it a number of times and we have had the opportunity to debate it.

Food labelling is a key source of information by which consumers can determine what food to buy. It serves a primary purpose of informing the consumer who has the right to clear and understandable information on food products and their true origins. The European Union is required by treaty to contribute to protecting the health, safety and the economic interests of consumers, as well as promoting their rights to information, education and organise themselves to safeguard their interests. While the initial food labelling legislation was to provide rules for the labelling of foods as a tool in the free circulation of food, over time the protection of consumer rights has emerged as a specific objective. The consumer may be interested in obtaining additional information on health, product sustainability, animal welfare and food miles. The absence of definitive country-of-origin labelling for some products means that some can masquerade as being from elsewhere, which leads to misinformation and, down the line, potential health risks. This is a concern, with some food products being passed off as Irish which have undergone substantial transformation.

The credence characteristic of goods is defined as those the consumer cannot evaluate accurately, even after use, owing to insufficient information and the consumer’s lack of expert knowledge. In the light of this, are consumers winners in a liberal trade regime when often they are in the dark about the characteristics of the products they are consuming?

For example, if we assume that foreign suppliers are able to adopt some technology in their businesses such as biotechnology and that producers in the importing country cannot use that technology because it is not applicable there, as the biotechnology used relates to product preservation, the imported product may utilise the same sell by date as the domestic product but could have been processed earlier. In theory, labelling should be used as a signalling device to indicate to consumers the difference in production dates, but the use of technology, coupled with regulation, means that a foreign company does not have to do this. Consumers who buy foreign products over domestic products might not be aware of the credence attribute of the product which is, in fact, older than the domestic product. Many of the World Trade Organisation rules for the labelling of imports do not actually account for the market failure arising from these characteristics. They need to be addressed urgently. The Department of Health has a big say in country of origin food labelling, but what dialogue is ongoing between the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Irish Codex Advisory Committee and the Codex Alimentarius Commission on substantial transformation to deal with these issues?

We can start to properly mitigate food crises and health risks when there is transparency in the food production system. I call on the Minister to give strong consideration to this Bill which is a fantastic piece of work by a Senator who has been consistent in his work in this area.