Following the controversy regarding the labelling of chicken slices earlier this month, Kerry Group CEO Edmond Scanlon said that the group policy was to source as much as possible locally.

He said this was not always possible 365 days of the year for a number of reasons. He blamed availability as a key reason for using other EU-sourced chicken in its Denny label range, which uses only chicken breast.

He said the group was currently looking at the packaging in this particular range while also looking at the source of the chicken.

The CEO was speaking on Tuesday at the announcement of Kerry Group's annual results for 2018.

The company was initially criticised at the end of January over the general confusion its packaging caused for consumers. The packaging came with a "Made in Wicklow" stamp, which the company said refers to the product being cooked, cooled, sliced, packaged and labelled in Co Wicklow. It did not refer to the chicken product itself. The packaging fully complied with strict EU labelling regulations.

Further confusion was caused when Kerry Foods initially said the chicken slices sold under the group’s Denny label were produced from chicken raised in Brazil, but later amended this to say all its chicken and pork was sourced from the EU.

At the time, Kerry Foods said all of its Denny chicken products are sourced from trusted suppliers across the EU, Northern Ireland and the UK.