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The news today that gardaí raided a number of premises in relation to their investigation into the tampering of identification passports and microchips of horses presented for slaughter brings back memories of the horsemeat incident in 2013.
Then the issue was the fraud of horsemeat being passed off as beef, while on this occasion the investigation appears on the identification of horses that are intended for the food chain.
Horsemeat processing is a perfectly reputable and indeed necessary business even though horses are primarily bred for purposes other than the food chain.
Popular
In Ireland, people are not inclined to consume horsemeat just as they are not inclined to eat veal and there is little, if any, commercial market for either product. However, that is not the case on the continent and horsemeat is popular with both French and Belgian consumers.
The meat from horses processed in Ireland is primarily sold in these markets.
Farmers and food processors in Ireland are among the most heavily regulated in the entire world
It is, of course, an entirely different matter if there was an attempt to pass horsemeat off as beef as this would be fraudulently substituting the more expensive beef product with a cheaper horsemeat one. That is what the scandal was in 2013 whereas on this occasion it appears very much about the identity of horses being targeted towards the legitimate horsemeat trade.
Integrity
While farmers and the legitimate meat processing industry never want to hear of issues relating to the integrity of the food industry, there is an element of comfort that we can take by the revelation of investigation where wrongdoing is suspected.
Where there is money to be made through fraud, whether it is in food, diesel or cigarettes, there is always an element of society that see this as acceptable and money can be made.
Regulators and law enforcement agencies are continually in pursuit of fraudulent activity and while they regularly succeed in dealing with specific incidents and issues, they have a knack of reappearing elsewhere.
Where there is a potential to financially benefit, there will always be a risk of fraud
Farmers and food processors in Ireland are among the most heavily regulated in the entire world. In addition to regulation, most farmers are voluntarily part of Quality Assurance schemes which are a positive demonstration of not just being in compliance with the law but going beyond it in the interests of best practice. This is the foundation of Ireland’s global reputation as a quality food producer.
Fraudulent activity has no place in any part of the food chain and farmers and the wider industry will have more interest than anyone in seeing any fraudulent behaviour being caught and dealt with in the most robust way possible through the courts.
That will be a deterrent for anyone subsequently tempted to operate outside the regulated industry but where there is a potential to financially benefit, there will always be a risk of fraud.
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