DEAR EDITOR
As a result of the ongoing controversial issues in relation to the Mercosur trade deal, I have become aware of the considerable uproar being played out across various media in relation to Mercosur meat being available to purchase in Irish supermarkets as if it was something that happened recently; in fact it has been going on for years.
Sides of beef are being imported at a wholesale level from numerous countries, both within the EU and more often from countries outside of the EU.
I’m not suggesting that this beef from the Mercosur countries or other countries outside of the EU are not compliant with EU regulations, in fact it may well have been satisfactorily audited.
This is manufacturing beef that is being imported for further processing in various food processing units within Ireland, mainly for export to various food suppliers as a packaged retail product within the EU and also to other markets across the world.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that if the value of the original beef has increased by 20% through the production of packaged retail food products in Ireland, then those products can be approved as originating in Ireland.
Some in the food processing industry are of the opinion that the 20% added value threshold can be met by the transport costs on simply importing/exporting the meat/food products.
I would respectfully suggest that there needs to be an in-depth review into the parameters that our beef/food processing industry currently operates within and also the roles of both Bord Bia and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) in the monitoring of production in our food/retail products going forward.
Within the EU, there are three core pieces of information which are obligatory to have clearly marked on each meat/food package in a retail store ie:
1. Origin (country and code of where animal was reared).2. Country and code where animal was slaughtered.3. Country and code where animal was cut/packaged in.It is my opinion that this basic information is not always clearly displayed on packaged meat/food in retail stores,and needs to be addressed urgently in the interests of transparency and fairness.
DEAR EDITOR
As a result of the ongoing controversial issues in relation to the Mercosur trade deal, I have become aware of the considerable uproar being played out across various media in relation to Mercosur meat being available to purchase in Irish supermarkets as if it was something that happened recently; in fact it has been going on for years.
Sides of beef are being imported at a wholesale level from numerous countries, both within the EU and more often from countries outside of the EU.
I’m not suggesting that this beef from the Mercosur countries or other countries outside of the EU are not compliant with EU regulations, in fact it may well have been satisfactorily audited.
This is manufacturing beef that is being imported for further processing in various food processing units within Ireland, mainly for export to various food suppliers as a packaged retail product within the EU and also to other markets across the world.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that if the value of the original beef has increased by 20% through the production of packaged retail food products in Ireland, then those products can be approved as originating in Ireland.
Some in the food processing industry are of the opinion that the 20% added value threshold can be met by the transport costs on simply importing/exporting the meat/food products.
I would respectfully suggest that there needs to be an in-depth review into the parameters that our beef/food processing industry currently operates within and also the roles of both Bord Bia and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) in the monitoring of production in our food/retail products going forward.
Within the EU, there are three core pieces of information which are obligatory to have clearly marked on each meat/food package in a retail store ie:
1. Origin (country and code of where animal was reared).2. Country and code where animal was slaughtered.3. Country and code where animal was cut/packaged in.It is my opinion that this basic information is not always clearly displayed on packaged meat/food in retail stores,and needs to be addressed urgently in the interests of transparency and fairness.
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