Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 239: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, further to the Adjournment debate of 14 February 2006, the action which was taken by the official agencies who were presented with a copy of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland report; the conclusions of such action in each case; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6573/06]

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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The official agencies concerned are the Department of Agriculture and Food, the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, the Health Service Executive and various local authorities. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland, FSAI, provided each of these agencies with a report on the premises under their supervision which were visited as part of the audit and it has confirmed that they took follow-up action by way of additional visits and inspections and that the matters which required attention have been rectified.

A related outcome of the audit identified by the FSAI was the need to strengthen controls in the areas of recall, traceability and labelling. Subsequently, the authority devised and delivered training sessions to more than 500 field staff in the official agencies. This training was designed to allow enforcement officers to gain an improved understanding of the type of audit carried out, the issues which arose in the context of the audit and to enable them to carry out similar labelling, traceability and recall audits on an ongoing basis.

Consumers must be confident that Irish food business operators not only produce safe food but food which is properly labelled and traceable. The FSAI has informed me that it will continue to ensure that consumers' interests are protected by ensuring adequate enforcement of regulations in this area. In addition, my officials have asked the FSAI to consider how such reports may be made available routinely.