The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) has said a full EU audit of the food chain is needed following a number of claims about who gets what margin from the retail price of beef.

Central to recent protests by the Beef Plan Movement had been posters saying farmers received 20% from every €10 spent on beef.

ICSA president Edmond Phelan said the most controversial claim had come from Meat Industry Ireland (MII), whose figures said farmers were receiving 63% of the final price.

“Assertions like this are akin to sitting on a powder keg. Many farmers will see the MII figures as outrageous spin and this will only serve to infuriate farmers further,” Phelan said.

Price

Figures compiled by Bord Bia suggested farmers received 40% of the retail price.

Phelan said both sets of figures could not be right and there were clearly different methodologies being used.

As a result, neither could be “relied on to give an accurate reflection”.

Phelan said the starting point seemed to be an average retail price of €8.97/kg.

“It must be pointed out that such figures are very limited when you look at all the variations in terms of markets.

"The figures are also potentially distorted by excessive use of beef as a loss leader in order to lure in customers to retail multinationals who then profit on sales of other products."

Fake burgers

“Questions must also be asked about how some supermarkets are now charging €7 for two fake burgers when they have spent years telling us that consumers will not pay any more than €10 for two steaks.

“How can supermarkets justify selling fake burgers at a price in excess of €30/kg when genuine beef burgers are being sold for around €8.55/kg?”

Phelan questioned the make-up of “fake burgers”, saying its single largest component was pea protein isolate at 18%, while a beef burger was 93% beef.

“If we are to get to the bottom of this, all players along the food chain need to be subjected to audit and full transparency.

"This can only be achieved with an EU-level auditor tasked with analysing and publicising who makes the profit from beef,” Phelan said.

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