Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 75: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the number of checks across the food industry for potential shortcomings in traceability and labelling standards the Food Standards Authority of Ireland has carried out between 1 March 2006 and 23 March 2006; the number of inspectors who are employed or contracted by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland to carry out such checks; the amount which was spent on the 2004 investigation of 90 food businesses; the amount which has been allocated to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland for such inspections in 2006; the lessons which have been learned by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland since the 2004 investigation of 90 food businesses; and the actions which have been taken arising from the shortcomings in labelling and traceability standards identified since then. [12364/06]

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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Staff in the official agencies contracted by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, FSAI, carry out checks on traceability and labelling on a routine basis or as required; however, during the period in question no such checks were carried out. In 2006, the authority proposes to conduct a series of such checks on various sectors of the food industry in conjunction with its official agencies. The results of these audits will be published and where a deliberate intention to mislead the consumer is identified, enforcement action will be taken against the food businesses concerned.

The official agencies contracted by the FSAI for the purposes of labelling and traceability are the Department of Agriculture and Food, the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, the Health Service Executive and the local authorities. Approximately 880 whole time equivalent staff are available to those agencies for food control purposes and the FSAI has allocated approximately €600,000 for control inspections in 2006.

The audit of the 90 food premises in question was conducted by the authority's chief audit manager and three audit managers. In addition to the salary costs of these personnel, travelling and subsistence costs for the purposes of the audit amounted to approximately €16,000. There were also some testing costs for which a separate figure is not available, as these costs are included in the general costs of testing.

Following this audit, the FSAI provided each of the official agencies with a copy of the report on those premises under their supervision which were inspected. The authority has confirmed that follow up action was taken by way of additional visits and inspections and that the matters which required attention have now been rectified.

The audit identified a training need in the areas of recall and traceability and labelling. Consequently, the FSAI devised and delivered training sessions to more than 500 field staff in its official agencies. The training was designed to allow enforcement officers to gain an understanding of the type of audit carried out, the issues which arose and to enable the enforcement officers to carry out similar labelling, traceability and recall audits on an ongoing basis. It was also evident that there was a need to remind industry of its responsibilities regarding traceability and recall and as a result the FSAI participated in a number of industry seminars dealing specifically with these issues.