Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 99: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if, arising from the recent decision of the EU to ban US imports of certain types of animal feed unless they can be certified as free of genetically modified corn, checks have been put in place to establish whether any such feedstuffs were imported into this country prior to the ban; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14178/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Following the coming in to force, on 21 April, of the EU Commission Decision 2005/317/EC on emergency measures regarding the non-authorised genetically modified organism Bt10 in maize products, my Department has introduced a requirement that all imports of maize gluten feed and distillers dried grains originating from the USA be accompanied by an original analytical certificate to demonstrate that Bt10 maize is not present.

My Department also proposes to introduce random checks on such products once an event specific test for Bt10 is validated by the EU joint research centre and put into operation by the State Laboratory. It is anticipated that this test will be available within the next couple of weeks. I remind the Deputy that the European Food Safety Authority has concluded that this incident does not constitute an immediate public health risk, a position fully endorsed by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, FSAI.