Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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629. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if all EU states are subject to the same food safety regime when it comes to exporting brown crab to the Chinese market. [37641/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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China, as a third country, outside of the European Union, sets its own health standards for incoming food products and notifies the WTO of the standards in place. I understand that the Chinese authorities have recently held a consultation on the health standards that will apply for crab as a food product and I hope that the outcome of this will bring some benefits for trade in Irish crab products. Ireland works closely with the EU Commission on the development of European positions on market access and food safety matters and the recent Chinese consultation was no exception.

The Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) is an independent statutory body which has responsibility for seafood safety controls and the enforcement of seafood safety law. The SFPA is the competent authority for the export certification of Irish seafood and I am precluded by Statute from interfering in the performance by the SFPA of a function assigned to it or exercising any power or control in relation to individual or groups of cases with which the Authority may be concerned.