Ireland is planning to introduce national legislation to cover mandatory country of origin labelling of fresh, chilled and frozen loose (non-prepacked) cuts of meat from swine, sheep, goats and poultry.

The legislation is already in place for prepacked versions of these products, having been authorised by former Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney in March 2015.

The legislation will require food businesses to clearly show the “country of rearing” and “country of slaughter” of any of the above products at either the point of presentation, point of sale or the point of supply.

Comment

A spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture said that Ireland “has always been a proponent of appropriate and balanced origin labelling in order to give consumers clear and concise information with regards to the food that they are purchasing.

It is clear from the public consultation that was undertaken with regards to this legislation that consumers would like this information available to them when they are buying their meat products at counters across the country

"It is clear from the public consultation that was undertaken with regards to this legislation that consumers would like this information available to them when they are buying their meat products at counters across the country," she said.

“Ireland is required when bringing in national legislation of this type to notify the Technical Regulation Information System of the EU Commission so that our colleagues across Europe are made aware of the upcoming changes that we intend to bring.”

New rules

As part of the rules, a label must indicate the name of the member state or third country (country outside the EU) where the animal was reared and slaughtered. If it happens that the animal was reared in one country and slaughtered in another, the label must name both these countries.

If, however, the animal was born, reared and slaughtered in one member state or third country, and the food business can prove to the competent authority that this is the case, then the label may just state the name of the one country.

The regulations include an exemption for minced meat and trimmings which allows food businesses to bypass, if they wish, the requirements for member states or third countries to be specified. For example “Origin: EU” can be used when the minced meat comes from animals born, reared and slaughtered in different EU countries, or “Reared and slaughtered in: non-EU” for those either reared or slaughtered, or both, outside the EU.

Read more

MEPs calling for new ‘country of origin’ labelling of milk and ‘other’ meats

No easy answer to country of origin rules