Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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557. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if national guidelines are planned for the traceability of meat supplied to the beef, sheep and pig processing plants to resolve the issue of substitution of imported meats in Irish-labelled meat exports. [50759/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Under EU law primary responsibility for the safety and traceability of food placed in the market place lies with food business operators. The role of my Department is to verify compliance by the food business operators with this requirement.

Regulation (EC) No. 178 of 2002, which sets out the general principles and requirements of EU food law, stipulates, among other things, that food business operators at all stages of production, processing and distribution within the businesses under their control must ensure that foods satisfy the requirements of food law. Specifically in regard to traceability, the regulations require that food business operators must have systems in place to be able to identify any person from whom they have been supplied with a food. They must also have a system in place to identify the other businesses to which their product has been supplied. In other words a food business operator at each and every stage in the food chain must be able to identify the source of its inputs as well as having details of the first recipient of its output. This is commonly referred to as the “one step forward one step backward” traceability system.

My Department has a permanent veterinary presence at all its approved slaughter plants. Controls at stand-alone secondary processing plants are carried out at a frequency which is based on an annual risk assessment for each plant. An annual audit of imported products is carried out in each Department approved meat plant. The audit includes physical identity, labelling and documentary checks. This includes product originating both in EU Member States and third countries. In addition, labelling and documentary checks form part of the routine checks conducted by Department officials.

Food labelling used to inform consumers of the properties of pre-packaged food is governed by harmonised EU rules. My colleague, the Minister for Health has overall responsibility for general food labelling legislation but my Department plays an important role in the labelling of food together with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI). The FSAI has published guidelines which provide an overview of the legislative requirements for the documentation and labelling of all meats including beef and I understand that this material is currently under review.

Rules on the labelling of meat and meat products are laid down in EU legislation. For beef, the current rules require compulsory origin labelling, with place of birth, rearing and slaughter specified.

In 2011, the European Union passed a new Council Regulation on Food Information for the Consumers (FIC), Regulation 1169/2011, which has updated the requirements for consumer information and labelling in a number of areas including;

- country of origin or place of provenance including the origin labelling for meats other than beef (that is swine, sheep, goats and poultry),

- voluntary labelling of all foods and

- the mandatory labelling of meat as an ingredient.

These requirements will have to be implemented by way of EU Commission implementing regulations and it is expected that draft EU Commission proposal currently being discussed at working group level will be voted on by 13 December 2013. Any new regulations will come into force on 1 April 2015.