Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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23. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is satisfied with the level of compliance by Irish beef vendors with EU Parliament and Council Regulation 1760/2000 and SI 435 of 2000; if these labelling regulations apply to loose cuts of beef as well as pre-packaged beef; the measures carried out to enforce these regulations with regard to individual butchers; if his attention has been drawn to any incidents of false labelling of beef in the past year, or the concerns of consumers regarding the origin of the beef they are buying; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32197/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Compulsory beef labelling rules have been in place for many years and require food business operators to be able to trace fresh or frozen with specific information to enable the product to be traced back to the batch of animals from which it was derived.  This applies to pre-packaged and loose beef sold in the State.

Under mandatory beef labelling rules, food business operators (FBOs) are required to label beef products with the country of the slaughterhouse and its approval number, the country of the cutting hall and its approval number and the origin of the beef, or the countries in which it has been born, reared and slaughtered, if these activities have not taken place in the same country. This information must be present up to and including the point of sale to the consumer. 

Operators may supplement the mandatory information on place of rearing and slaughter (and origin) with additional information concerning the provenance of the meat, provided it is not contradictory to the mandatory indications and is not  misleading. 

The Minister for Health has overall responsibility for general food labelling legislation but my Department plays a role in the labelling of food together with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and Environmental Health Officers. Under EU law primary responsibility for the safety and traceability of food placed in the market place lies with food business operators.

Authorised officers enforce the Beef labelling Regulations at different stages of the food chain under service contract to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. Officers are authorised by the Department of Agriculture,  Food and the Marine  (veterinary inspectors in export-approved meat plants), by local authorities (veterinary inspectors in abattoirs and meat processing plants producing solely for the domestic market), by health boards (environmental health officers in retail butcher shops and meat distribution centres and other officials appointed by the appropriate authority).  Environmental Health Officers are also authorised under the General Labelling Regulations.

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.  In addition, labelling and documentary checks form part of the routine checks conducted by Department officials.

I understand that HSE has reported to FSAI that in 2015 Environmental Health Officers of the HSE carried out 2, 214 assessments for compliance with the beef labelling legislation S.I. 435 of 2000 as amended. I am also informed that in June 2016 FSAI took a successful prosecution for six offences related to breaches of food legislation. These included falsely declaring Irish origin for beef imported from Poland, Lithuania or Germany;  the application of false Irish slaughter and cutting plant codes used on packaging labels and having an inadequate beef traceability plan. The FBO was found guilty of six charges, fined a total of €16,000, with €10,000 as an agreed contribution to costs.

During 2015 and 2016 to date I understand that the FSAI has issued three prohibition orders citing breaches of legislation related to meat labelling and traceability were. Prohibition Orders are issued if the activities (handling, processing, disposal, manufacturing, storage, distribution or selling food) involve or are likely to involve a serious risk to public health from a particular product, class, batch or item of food. The effect is to prohibit the sale of the product, either temporarily or permanently.