The protest was held to vent the anger felt by pig farmers at the persistent use by processors of brands that portray Irish origin on non-Irish product, while Irish pig farmers are experiencing the worst income crisis in decades.

Pig prices are currently more than 20c/kg below the cost of production, meaning a loss to the average pig farmer of €5,000 per week.

Jer Bergin said, “Pig farmers are constantly told by processors that the home market gives the greatest return for their product. For this reason, farmers have made huge efforts to protect their home market, but the continued use of non-Irish pig meat in household brands such as Galtee, Denny and others is clearly undermining that effort.”

IFA National Pigs Committee Chairman Pat O’Flaherty said, “Pig farmers are insisting that companies with Irish brands use 100% Bord Bia Quality Assured pig meat in their products and that their labelling clearly indicates country of origin. Companies cannot have the option of using the Bord Bia logo on their brands some of the time and not at other times. This practice is confusing for consumers who have consistently said they want to buy Irish meat and support local farmers."

O'Flaherty added that producers are only asking for "a level playing field" with clarity on origin and a fair margin for their produce.

“An Irish company like Kerry Foods must appreciate the difficulties in the pig sector and make a more concerted effort to support Irish farmers and stop misleading consumers," he said. "Tougher legislation is needed to require country of origin labelling on all pork and bacon products.”

Country of origin regulations

In March 2015 Ireland adopted new regulations country of origin labelling. The new rules required food business operators, including processors, retailers and butcher shops, to ensure that country of origin labelling information is available to customers who purchase packaged sheepmeat, pigmeat, goatmeat and poultry products.

However, the EU regulation underpinning these rules did not cover ‘loose’ product or non pre-packaged meat.

Survey

One month before these new rules came into effect, in February 2015, a survey carried out by the IFA found that almost 30% of pork products in butchers were wrongly sold as Irish.

The survey targeted independent and retail butchers in Wexford, Galway, Cork and Cavan. Commenting on the results at the time, O’Flaherty said that the misleading of consumers is a serious issue.

"We appreciate that the local butcher is under pressure, however that is not an excuse to mislead the consumer on the origin of their meat," he said.

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