Ireland’s application for an EU-approved protected geographical indication (PGI) for ‘Irish Grass Fed Beef’ excludes bulls and dairy-bred cows and imposes a two-hour journey limit prior to slaughter.

This is despite bulls being included in the Bord Bia grass-fed standard which forms a large part of the proposed PGI requirement.

The proposed PGI allows for beef cows of up to 120 months of age, but it is not clear whether crossbred cows will be eligible or what proportion of beef breeding must be included for a cow to be eligible.

The PGI standard also includes a two-hour journey limit prior to slaughter, which would restrict the number of factories that a farmer could choose from to slaughter his PGI-eligible animals.

The PGI draft application, published by the Department of Agriculture on Friday, will be open for public consultation for a number of weeks.

Defining grass fed

In its document, ‘Irish Grass Fed Beef’ is the name given to beef raised on a grass-based diet on pasture-grazing farms and applies to cattle born, raised, finished, slaughtered, chilled and quartered in Ireland.

The PGI will only include cattle that derive at least 90% of their feed intake from grass and spend a minimum of 220 days per year throughout their lifetime grazing pasture, as determined by the Bord Bia Grass Fed Beef Standard.

In addition, selection criteria used mean that only carcases and cuts from certain higher-grade beef animals are eligible to be classified:

  • Steers and heifers aged up to 36 months with conformation better than O- and fat score between 2+ and 4+.
  • Beef cows of up to 120 months with conformation better than O+ and with fat score between 2+ and 5.
  • A national opposition procedure must be undertaken before the application can be submitted to the European Commission.

    On successful completion of the national opposition procedure, applications are submitted to the Commission for examination.

    The opposition procedure provides the opportunity for any natural or legal person, having a legitimate interest and established or resident in Ireland, to lodge an opposition to the applications.

    Interested parties have a period of four weeks ending at 5.45pm on Friday 11 September to submit a reasoned statement of opposition in accordance with the regulatory requirements.

    Intellectual property

    PGIs are a type of intellectual property right, protecting food product names which are linked to a particular territory or to a production method. Ireland currently has eight registered protected designation of origion (PDO) and PGI food products.

    A second application to register ‘Achill Island Sea Salt’ as a PDO has also been launched. Achill Island Sea Salt is hand harvested from the waters around Achill Island, Co Mayo.

    Read more

    Grass-fed beef: what does a PGI mean?

    New grass-fed beef logo on the table

    Bord Bia includes bulls in grass-fed standard