Just under a quarter of all beef processed in Northern Ireland originates south of the border yet exports of live cattle north have dwindled to a trickle. The current strength of the euro against sterling is a factor but this is the same for beef as it is for live cattle. Current EU beef labelling legislation and the unwillingness of major UK customers to accept beef of mixed origin is the main reason why northern farmer and factory buyers have disappeared from Irish marts.

How beef labelling works

Beef labelling was established by the EU after the BSE crisis spread to mainland Europe in 2000. Country-of-origin labels on beef provided a level of reassurance to consumers and helped to restore consumer confidence in the product. To qualify for a specific nationality in the country of origin, the beef must come from cattle born in, raised in and slaughtered in the same country. If any of these key stages occur in a different country, the beef becomes mixed origin and cannot carry a specific country-of-origin label such as Irish, French or UK.

Therefore, beef carcases can go north for deboning and packing and retain their Irish country-of-origin labelling.

Bord Bia has approved cutting plants in the north that means the product can retain its quality mark. This is because each of the key steps for the label all took place in the Republic of Ireland (born, raised and slaughtered).

If a farmer sends his animal north to a factory there it loses its country-of-origin label

It is different if a farmer or a factory from the north bought an animal from a mart in the south and took it north for finishing or even direct to the factory. In this case, it may have been born and raised in the Republic of Ireland but by going north before slaughter it means that the final part of country-of-origin labelling doesn’t happen as its country of slaughter is the UK.

As a result, if a farmer sends his animal north to a factory there it loses its country-of-origin label, whereas if a factory south of the border slaughtered the same animal it could go north for cutting up and retail packing while retaining its Irish label.

Why does beef go north for further processing?

With the Republic of Ireland exporting almost 90% of the beef it produces, all markets are welcome. Northern Ireland has a number of high-volume deboning factories that don’t have accompanying abattoirs. These factories source huge volumes of carcase beef south of the border take it north for deboning and sell it on as Irish beef, correctly labelled.

Similarly, Dunbia and Linden Foods have huge standalone retail packing facilities in the north and these are used to service sister companies across the border as well as sourcing external supplies of raw material, again often from southern factories.

Comment

Carcase and vacuum-packed beef going north for processing and retaining its Irish label is perfectly legitimate and good business for all concerned. Where the unfairness of beef labelling as it is currently constituted kicks in is the fact that the same facility is denied to farmers south of the border. If a farmer took his animal to the mart or straight to a factory in Northern Ireland, it loses its Irish identity and the market value of that animal is severely reduced.

The solution should be simple – beef from an animal should be entitled to carry the identity from the country in which it was born irrespective of where it is finished or slaughtered. People that are born in Ireland can carry an Irish passport no matter how short a time they have lived in Ireland. If the same rules applied to cattle it would give farmers the same selling opportunity that is currently available to meat processors, yet the political will doesn’t exist at either a national or EU level to get the necessary changes made.

Read more

https://www.farmersjournal.ie/push-for-higher-beef-returns-362527/

https://www.farmersjournal.ie/lesser-quality-cattle-hitting-average-prices-362577/