John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 321: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food further to Parliamentary Question No. 1626 of 24 September 2008, the details of the regulations drafted by his Department in conjunction with the Department of Health and Children and submitted to the EU Commission in December 2007; and the additional explanatory information which it has supplied to the Commission. [34990/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The draft regulations provide that a food business operator selling or supplying poultrymeat, pigmeat or meat products where 70% or more of the products or preparations are made up of such meat shall not (a) present the meat, meat products or preparations for sale or supply, or (b) sell or supply them unless the country or countries of origin of the animals from which the meat was derived is indicated on a label in the case of pre-packaged goods and otherwise in a notice or on a menu or other presentation used at the point of presentation and such indication must be clearly legible.

In March, the EU Commission delivered a negative opinion on the regulations but afforded Ireland an opportunity to provide further information in support of them. In the meantime, the Department provided additional details including the current misleading labelling practices and evidence of consumers' desire for country of origin labelling. The EU Commission has considered this additional information in the context of the EU Labelling Directive but considers that it does not justify the introduction of national legislation. At the relevant standing committee meeting on food law on 13th October, the EU Commission outlined its decision not to agree to Ireland's proposed regulations.