Written answers

Tuesday, 8 December 2020

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Beef Industry

Photo of Matt CarthyMatt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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843. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the requirements of an applicant's internal IT system in order to access the web service used for the Bord Bia grass-fed beef standard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41908/20]

Photo of Matt CarthyMatt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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844. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the assistance that Bord Bia provides to applicants who require their IT systems updated in order to use Bord Bia’s grass-fed beef standard web service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41909/20]

Photo of Matt CarthyMatt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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845. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the initial on-site grass fed audit required as part of the Bord Bia grass-fed beef standard to be carried out by a nominated agent has ever been carried out by a nominated agent rather than Bord Bia directly; the regularity with which this occurred in each of the years 2016 to 2019 and to date in 2020; if this has not occurred, if it would be permissible for Bord Bia to allow nominating agents to do so; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41910/20]

Photo of Matt CarthyMatt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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846. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the companies that have operated as nominated agents for Bord Bia with regard to monitoring or surveillance audits as a part of the grass-fed beef standard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41911/20]

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 843 to 846, inclusive, together.

I wish to advise the Deputy that issues in relaqtion to the Bord Bia Quality Assurance Schemes are operational matters for Bord Bia.

However I can advise that the Bord Bia Grass Fed Beef and Dairy Standards have been developed by Bord Bia following consultation with my Department, Teagasc, farmers and processors. The Standards were validated by the Irish National Accreditation Board under the Bord Bia ISO17065 schedule and approved by the EU Commission under the Technical Directive 2015/1535. There are both producer and Processor members.

In relation to processors, the Grass Fed Standards set out requirements for the processing industry for certification under the Standards. Any processor wishing to become a member must be a certified member of the Bord Bia Meat Processor Quality Assurance Scheme and a verified member of the Origin Green Programme and must, in addition, be certified to the Grass Fed Beef Standard.

Prospective processor members must demonstrate sufficient and relevant IT capacity and systems on application. Any costs associated with upgrades must be borne by the applicants. Bord Bia will provide guidance to the IT services of those organisations where required.

At farm level, the Grass Fed Standards are bound up with the requirements of the Bord Bia Sustainable Beef and Lamb Assurance Scheme (SBLAS) and the Sustainable DairyAssurance Scheme (SDAS). Agridata and Capita Customer Solutions were selected as independent auditor bodies for farm audits following a public procurement process in 2017. During the course of an on-farm audit, they use data collected to determine if it meets the grass fed regulations, largely utilising existing feeding and housing data recorded as current requirements of the two schemes. On-farm audits are scheduled to take place normally at 18 months duration.

As the Dairy Grass Fed Standard was launched in May 2020 and the Beef Grass Fed Standard in October 2020, the issue of previous years does not arise.

The Standards are publicly available on Bord Bia’s website www.bordbia.ie.

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