Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 139: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the steps she is taking to ensure that non-organic food is not mislabelled; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21797/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I am fully committed to ensuring that consumers can have full confidence in the organic food they buy. For that reason my Department has assigned additional resources to the Organic Unit and they are now systematically inspecting retail outlets, including supermarkets, shops and farmers markets, checking to ensure that all product identified as organic has been produced fully in accordance with the organic regulations.

The introduction of the European Communities (Organic Farming) Regulation 2004 (S.I. No 112 of 2004) gave my Department powers to prosecute contraventions of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2092/91 on organic production and indications referring thereto on agricultural products and foodstuffs. To date one operator has been convicted of an offence for labelling product in contravention of these Regulations. I am pleased to inform the House that this Statutory Instrument has been amended today to grant significant additional statutory powers to Department officials to enable them to carry out their work in a more effective manner.