Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 218: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she or her officials have held either informal or formal discussions directly with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland or with her colleague the Minister for Health and Children regarding the phenomenon of food fraud; if her attention has been drawn to the work being carried out by the UK Food Standards Agency in the area of food fraud; the action her Department is taking to contribute to the eradication of this threat to the integrity of Ireland's food industry implementation to date; the number of DNA tests to detect food fraud on food sold here been carried out either at her Department's behest or by other Departments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9214/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department enforces food legislation on behalf of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) by way of a service contract agreed between the Department and the Authority. In accordance with the service contract officials from my Department meet on a regular basis with the FSAI to discuss food safety and the enforcement of related regulations. During these discussions all aspects of food safety are raised, including where necessary the question of food fraud, to ensure that consumer health interests are protected through official controls undertaken by DAF personnel.

The concept of food fraud encompasses a wide variety of possible activities the intent of which is to mislead the consumer as to the nature, origin or quality of a food product. The Food Safety Authority, my Department and the other official agencies engaged in food law enforcement will ensure that there will be appropriate enforcement action taken where any such activities are suspected. Such action will include prosecution of offenders where necessary.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has undertaken a range of activities in the area of food fraud in recent years. In addition to establishing a cross Agency working group which considered the issues relating to illegal imports of products of animal origin and providing training on import controls to HSE inspectors, two investigations which highlight this work are:

1. Investigation of the composition and labelling of chicken breast fillets from the Netherlands imported into Ireland — February 2003

2. Analytical and traceability survey to determine the authenticity of honey labelled as Irish on the Irish market — May 2006

In all cases of food fraud, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and the relevant Official agencies consider prosecution wherever deliberate fraud is found.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland is currently completing work on an audit to determine compliance with labelling and traceability legislation. As part of this project 12 official samples were taken by FSAI personnel. These samples have been sent for DNA testing. The results of these tests are not yet available.

In April 2006, the UK Food Standards Agency Food Fraud Task Force (FFTF) consisting of 14 members was convened and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland was also asked to participate.

Meetings of the FFTF are attended by FSAI staff, as was a recent seminar on Food Authenticity held at Food Standard Agency Headquarters in London. The seminar looked at recently developed methods that could be used to support food authenticity and enforcement with the aim of ensuring consumers receive accurate information about food products they purchase.