Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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103. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans on making the DNA testing of all cattle in processing plants mandatory in order to ensure full traceability from field to fork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39682/14]

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 marketplace lies with food business operators. The role of my Department is to verify compliance by the food business operators with this requirement. I am satisfied that the traceability requirements in place are sufficient to ensure the safety of the product while also providing information to consumers and retailers. This is borne out by the successful audits of our traceability systems from the many third countries who have opened their markets to Irish beef in recent years. 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.

My Department has a permanent veterinary presence at all DAFM 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 DAFM approved meat plant. The audit includes physical identity, labelling and document checks and concerns product originating both in EU Member States and third countries. In addition, labelling and documentary checks form part of the routine procedures conducted by Department officials.

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 as well as the approval number of the slaughterhouse and cutting hall. Currently there is no obligation under EU law to identify bovines using DNA testing. The tagging system for bovines is based on Council Regulation 1760/2000 which requires all bovines to be identified with 2 matching ear tags within 20 days of birth and to register the calf within 7 days of tagging on the AIM database. 

I am not aware of any plans at EU level to amend Regulation 1760 of 2000 to facilitate the introduction of DNA testing for bovine traceability purposes. The introduction of such a measure would certainly entail extra costs which, ultimately, would be borne by the consumer. Consideration would need to be given to the impact this might have on the price of the final product and the competitiveness of our beef exports.

I have of course recently launched a Beef Genomics Scheme which, on a voluntarily basis, will require participating farmers to take a tissue sample from specified animals for genotyping. The primary purpose of this programme is to accelerate breed quality in the suckler herd and to expand efficiency and profitability at farm level.