As the fallout from the Brazilian meat scandal continues, Pat McDonagh, founder of SuperMac’s – which only uses 100% Irish chicken and beef in its meal products – told the Irish Farmers Journal that it is “common knowledge” among people in the Irish food industry that chicken being imported from countries inside and outside the EU, including Brazil, is being relabelled as Irish.

“I am aware, and I think it is common knowledge in the food industry, that there is chicken coming into Ireland that is being relabelled as Irish, either through clever packaging with use of the Irish flag or use of the word Ireland somewhere on the product. It can also be through basic lack of clarity as to where it has originated from.”

McDonagh added that there is a risk of this happening to many imported food products: “If some product is being brought into Ireland from another country, there is always the risk that someone somewhere along the chain will try and pass the product off as Irish to gain the consumers trust or to sell it for more than it is worth.”

It also undermines Irish product by equating it with something that is inferior

Although most supermarkets in Ireland stock fresh chicken with the Bord Bia quality assurance mark – which guarantees the product is Irish – many restaurants, delis and even butchers sell imported chicken, some of which may come from Brazil.

Traceability

McDonagh said a big part of the problem is that poultry meat is not as traceable as products like beef: “With imported beef products you can often trace the beef back to the farm it came from, but with imported poultry meat, it is not as clear cut. Product that goes through EU channels before it comes to Ireland could be coming from anywhere outside the EU originally. It is not entirely clear.”

McDonagh added that the Department of Agriculture needs to “clamp down on” the labelling deception as “not only does it dupe the consumer but it also undermines Irish product by equating it with something that is inferior”.

Irish producers cannot compete with the likes of Brazilian poultry meat coming into Ireland

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal this week, IFA poultry chair Nigel Renaghan said poultry farmers in Ireland produce to an extremely high standard because of the Bord Bia poultry products quality assurance scheme. “Therefore we have a much higher cost of production,” he said. “We cannot compete with the likes of Brazilian poultry meat coming into Ireland which is produced at a much lower cost and therefore sold at a much lower price. Consumers need to support Irish product by asking retailers if the poultry product they are selling is Irish or by looking out for the Bord Bia quality assurance mark.”

Labelling

While origin labelling has been in place for beef for many years, legislation for mandatory country of origin labelling (COOL) for prepacked cuts of meat from poultry and pigs was only introduced in March 2015 by former Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney.

Then in October 2016 the Department of Agriculture announced plans to introduce mandatory COOL for fresh, chilled and frozen loose versions of these products. According to the Minister for Agriculture’s reply to a recent PQ, this legislation has yet to be fully implemented.

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Department to intensify checks on Brazilian meat products