Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 215: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the steps she is taking to introduce a clear and transparent food labelling system here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26211/05]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 216: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the steps she is taking to introduce a clear and transparent food labelling system here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26223/05]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 217: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she has considered or will consider introducing reforms to the food labelling system here to safeguard consumers' confidence in Irish products; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26490/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 215 to 217, inclusive, together.

My Department has given considerable attention to food labelling as I regard it of importance that consumers are provided with full information on foodstuffs. In this regard, my Department has pursued assiduously the implementation of the recommendations of the food labelling group. Nineteen of the 21 recommendations, many of which were beyond the remit of my Department and some of which were to be activated only after others had been completed, have been addressed. The remaining two recommendations, which concern aspects of origin labelling, are also being addressed.

Arising from the implementation of the group's recommendations, the enforcement of all food labelling regulations has been centralised in the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, FSAI. This not only streamlines the enforcement measures but it also provides a one-stop shop for any complaints on mislabelling of food. In addition, the responsibility for food labelling policy, with the exception of fish, has been assigned to the Department of Health and Children and my Department, in accordance with another recommendation of the food labelling group.

Accordingly, the Department of Health and Children is responsible for general labelling regulations which require information on food labels to be given clearly, accurately and in a language understood by the consumer. My Department is responsible for more detailed legislation on the labelling of specific food products including beef and poultry meat. With regard to beef, EU regulations require operators to label their product with: a reference code to enable the beef to be traced back to the animal or group of animals from which it was derived; the approval number of the slaughterhouse and the country in which it is located; the approval number of the de-boning hall and the country in which it is located; and an indication of the origin of the animal from which the beef was derived.

These labelling requirements, which are compulsory in all member states, apply to the marketing of beef within the Community, regardless of whether that beef was produced within the Community or in a third country. Where beef is imported into the Community from a third country and not all the above details are available, that beef must, at a minimum, be labelled as "origin: non-EC", along with an indication of the third country in which slaughter took place. The labelling requirements under those regulations extend up to and including retail level and to the point of delivery into hotels, restaurants and catering establishments.

Given the identified consumer demand for information on the country of origin of beef to be provided by the restaurant and catering sectors, I put specific proposals to the Government at the end of June for a legislative framework to facilitate this by way of an amendment to the Health Act 1947. This will be introduced under the Irish Medicines Board (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2005 which will come before the Oireachtas this session. The appropriate regulations are being worked on concurrently and it is my intention to have these cleared at EU level as soon as possible. When the Act is amended and the regulations made, country of origin information will be available to consumers in respect of all beef served in restaurants, hotels and the entire catering sector in Ireland on a mandatory basis.

The various representative bodies, including the Irish Hotels Federation, the Restaurants Association of Ireland and both of the vintners groups have agreed, following discussions with my Department, to recommend to their members the introduction on a voluntary basis of a mechanism for providing consumers on their premises with information on the country of origin of the beef served there in advance of the mandatory legal requirement. This agreement was recently finalised and these organisations are currently at various stages in that process. I expect the voluntary system will be in place in the near future.

The beef sector has the most developed system of labelling within the EU legislative framework. With regard to poultry meat, two regulations were introduced in early 2004 requiring loose and pre-packaged poultry meat originating in a country outside the EU to bear an indication of the country of origin when offered for sale in a retail premises and requiring information regarding class, price per unit weight, condition and slaughterhouse details in respect of loose or non-packaged poultry meat to be provided to the consumer. I am having the possibility examined of further extending the labelling requirements for poultry meat, pig meat and sheep meat in order to have similar provisions to those for beef. This is not a straightforward matter as EU approval would be required and there is no precedent thus far of individual member states being allowed to extend meat labelling requirements internally beyond providing information that is already required by EU laws.

There has also been a great deal of concern expressed about products imported into the Community and then processed in some way, allowing it to be described as a product of a member state. This is known as substantial transformation in the context of European customs regulations. Accordingly, any changes in this regard would have to be made with the agreement of the other member states. At a meeting of the Council of Agriculture Ministers on 28 February, I raised this issue in the context of the review on food labelling being carried out by the Commission.