Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last year, we had a very interesting debate on the Food Provenance Bill and I believe I got wholehearted support. However, the Minister said he wished to delay it because the Food Provenance Bill was aimed at identifying the ingredients in processed food and particularly after the horsemeat scandal that occurred the previous year, that was understandable. The Minister said that Europe was going to introduce legislation and he wished to delay the implementation of it in Ireland until the European decision was made. In fact, what happened was that they never got to it in the last session of the European Parliament. I am urging the MEPs to ensure they get it to the top of the agenda. Those pushing to delay it say it will be very expensive even though the cost to test each of those processed foods will be less than 1 cent for a product, meaning that customers would have to pay an extra 1 cent to buy a hamburger or whatever.

Unless we ensure that we get that legislation enacted, we will be the ones who will get the blame. The horsemeat scandal was discovered by us, but many in Europe assume that because we discovered it, we were at fault. It turns out the horsemeat scandal was not our fault at all. It was coming from somewhere else. Let us ensure we get the safety of food to the top of the agenda. The belief in the quality of Irish food is essential. One of the soundings being made from Europe is to label food as from the EU or non-EU instead of listing the country of origin on the ingredients. I do not think that is nearly good enough. A number of Irish companies are already showing the source of their products and I think they are gaining the benefit for it. Let us ensure that we get legislation through our legislative process in Ireland or else that it is covered by the European Parliament.