Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 321: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the measures which will be taken in view of the total recall of pork foodstuffs to ensure the future safety of public health, in particular consumer safety; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48013/08]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 322: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will appoint one person to oversee all policy in relation to the implementation of food safety; if the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will have their competences merged to insure against future food scares; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48022/08]

Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 321 and 322 together.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) implements national food safety policy. This allows the Department of Health & Children and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to concentrate on the formulation of national policy and to represent Ireland's interests at international level. The FSAI will soon be amalgamated with the Irish Medicines Board and the Office of Tobacco Control to form a new Public Health and Medicines Safety Authority.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is broadly responsible for food safety policy as it relates to production. That Department also has responsibility for the enforcement of food safety legislation under a service contract with the FSAI. The Department of Health and Children has broad responsibility for food safety policy in the retail and catering service sector.

This arrangement worked well during this incident, since both Departments bring different areas of expertise to food safety; the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has a wealth of knowledge in relation to agricultural production, both on the farm and in the factory. The Department of Health and Children primarily focuses on the public health dimension.

During the recent pork recall, all three bodies worked closely together to ensure that both the public health and industry perspectives were fully considered. From an industry perspective, while the recall was costly, it showed the world that we were serious about food safety and helped to protect the hard-won reputation of Irish food. This action will be of long-term benefit to the Irish food industry. From a public health perspective, the swift actions and scale of the response by the Irish Authorities were welcomed by a number of international commentators.

The importance of a quick response cannot be understated since, while the health risks for people exposed, in the short term, to dioxins did not provide cause for concern, the potential effects of continued high cumulative exposure over time might have. The high levels of dioxins, which were between 80 and 200 times the legal limit, found in the pork products necessitated this course of action. Long-term chronic exposure to dioxins can result in a number of different cancers.

The existing food safety traceability system enabled the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food to identify immediately, from positive samples at slaughter, a farm and a feed supplier and all the customers of that feed supplier. Notwithstanding this however, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food has indicated that it is to examine the potential to further improve pork traceability. My Department will provide any assistance required in this regard.