The surge in beef going to Northern Ireland in recent weeks is a reminder of how there, and indeed Britain, used to be such a major market for Irish cattle.
In fact, it is only in the last 50 years, with the arrival of the roll-on roll-off ferries and surge in Irish processing capacity, that the majority of Irish beef sold in the UK was on the hook as opposed to on the hoof.
The trade had been moving from live cattle to originally carcase beef and latterly boneless vacuum-packed beef, even retail pack in some cases.
This isn’t as satisfactory, because while vacuum-packed product can be packed tightly, there is a significant amount of space around meat in a retail pack, meaning the volume of meat on a container would be halved if shipping in retail pack and transport costs doubled.
Traceability
Beef labelling and traceability are at a very high level of product integrity compared with 30 years ago, but in the process it has also frustrated trade.
Traceability presents no downside whatsoever to the legitimate trade and something that should be welcomed and valued by farmers and the winder industry.
It is the basis for consumer confidence that if for any reason a problem is discovered in any part of the chain, it is possible to trace forwards and back, recalling product from shelves should the need ever arise.
Thankfully, that is an exceptionally rare occurrence and hasn’t happened in years.
Labelling
Country of origin beef labelling arrived following the spread of the BSE problem in cattle to the rest of Europe from the UK at the start of this century.
Consumer confidence in beef was hit, but there was general consumer confidence in the produce of their own country.
At that point, the EU developed country of origin labelling, something that appears at variance with the whole concept of the EU single market.
It is now well established and is unlikely to change, with current EU policy even more inclined to regionalisation of production and shortening supply chains.
For the country of origin label to be applied to a piece of meat in a retail environment, it must have been from an animal that was born, reared and slaughtered in a single member state of the EU.
Problem for Ireland.
This presents a particular problem in Ireland, where there was a historical trade for cattle being exported to Britain and even more of an issue for cattle going north either directly for slaughter or finishing.
Even though an animal may have spent its entire life being eligible for an Irish label, if it makes a half-hour journey from Donegal to a factory in Derry, it immediately loses its Irish identity.
Irish and UK beef sells alongside each other in the three largest UK supermarkets, but they will not accept a third category of mixed origin or nomad.
The term nomad has been developed to describe such cattle, which is particularly negative and means that the beef from these cattle won’t be carried by the major UK supermarkets and burger chains.
Of course, there is no particular logic for this policy given that the big three supermarkets and burger chains all stock both British and Irish beef.
There is a solution that would solve the problem of Irish cattle losing their country of origin identity
However, by virtue of being born and reared in one jurisdiction on the island of Ireland and slaughtered in the other, this beef becomes neither British nor Irish.
From a factory and customer management perspective, this creates another category and while customers are happy to carry UK or Irish beef, they are not willing to carry a small range that frequently has a small volume of product.
This, in effect, excludes live cattle from coming north because they are squeezed out of the highest-value markets.
Unique to Irish beef
This problem seems confined to beef on the island of Ireland. On the continent, cattle move between countries quite freely, while, in Ireland, lambs and pigs move across the border without market opportunities being hit.
The problem seems to be confined to cattle moving on the island of Ireland and has proven to be a barrier to trade.
Solution
Given the efforts by the Irish Government and the EU to maintain a seamless border on the island of Ireland post-Brexit, with the political will, there is a solution that would solve the problem of Irish cattle losing their country of origin identity.
Quite simply, it would involve the country of origin labelling to be modified to enable cattle born in the Republic of Ireland to retain their Irish identity if slaughtered anywhere on the island of Ireland.
The case could be made for extending this to include Britain or other EU countries, namely that where an animal is born determined its country of origin, not what happens afterwards.
However, the first priority should be to develop an island of Ireland solution.
The option of pursuing Irish cattle slaughtered in Northern Ireland carrying an Irish identity was rejected by the previous Government several years ago.
However, with the new programme for government having a commitment to working towards a “shared island”, an opportunity is created to revisit this issue in a positive way for Irish farmers by enabling Irish-born and -reared cattle retain their Irish country of origin identity, irrespective of where they are slaughtered on the island of Ireland.
Read more
Beef trade moves up a gear
NI Trends: base quotes holding at 360p/kg with lamb quotes rising
The surge in beef going to Northern Ireland in recent weeks is a reminder of how there, and indeed Britain, used to be such a major market for Irish cattle.
In fact, it is only in the last 50 years, with the arrival of the roll-on roll-off ferries and surge in Irish processing capacity, that the majority of Irish beef sold in the UK was on the hook as opposed to on the hoof.
The trade had been moving from live cattle to originally carcase beef and latterly boneless vacuum-packed beef, even retail pack in some cases.
This isn’t as satisfactory, because while vacuum-packed product can be packed tightly, there is a significant amount of space around meat in a retail pack, meaning the volume of meat on a container would be halved if shipping in retail pack and transport costs doubled.
Traceability
Beef labelling and traceability are at a very high level of product integrity compared with 30 years ago, but in the process it has also frustrated trade.
Traceability presents no downside whatsoever to the legitimate trade and something that should be welcomed and valued by farmers and the winder industry.
It is the basis for consumer confidence that if for any reason a problem is discovered in any part of the chain, it is possible to trace forwards and back, recalling product from shelves should the need ever arise.
Thankfully, that is an exceptionally rare occurrence and hasn’t happened in years.
Labelling
Country of origin beef labelling arrived following the spread of the BSE problem in cattle to the rest of Europe from the UK at the start of this century.
Consumer confidence in beef was hit, but there was general consumer confidence in the produce of their own country.
At that point, the EU developed country of origin labelling, something that appears at variance with the whole concept of the EU single market.
It is now well established and is unlikely to change, with current EU policy even more inclined to regionalisation of production and shortening supply chains.
For the country of origin label to be applied to a piece of meat in a retail environment, it must have been from an animal that was born, reared and slaughtered in a single member state of the EU.
Problem for Ireland.
This presents a particular problem in Ireland, where there was a historical trade for cattle being exported to Britain and even more of an issue for cattle going north either directly for slaughter or finishing.
Even though an animal may have spent its entire life being eligible for an Irish label, if it makes a half-hour journey from Donegal to a factory in Derry, it immediately loses its Irish identity.
Irish and UK beef sells alongside each other in the three largest UK supermarkets, but they will not accept a third category of mixed origin or nomad.
The term nomad has been developed to describe such cattle, which is particularly negative and means that the beef from these cattle won’t be carried by the major UK supermarkets and burger chains.
Of course, there is no particular logic for this policy given that the big three supermarkets and burger chains all stock both British and Irish beef.
There is a solution that would solve the problem of Irish cattle losing their country of origin identity
However, by virtue of being born and reared in one jurisdiction on the island of Ireland and slaughtered in the other, this beef becomes neither British nor Irish.
From a factory and customer management perspective, this creates another category and while customers are happy to carry UK or Irish beef, they are not willing to carry a small range that frequently has a small volume of product.
This, in effect, excludes live cattle from coming north because they are squeezed out of the highest-value markets.
Unique to Irish beef
This problem seems confined to beef on the island of Ireland. On the continent, cattle move between countries quite freely, while, in Ireland, lambs and pigs move across the border without market opportunities being hit.
The problem seems to be confined to cattle moving on the island of Ireland and has proven to be a barrier to trade.
Solution
Given the efforts by the Irish Government and the EU to maintain a seamless border on the island of Ireland post-Brexit, with the political will, there is a solution that would solve the problem of Irish cattle losing their country of origin identity.
Quite simply, it would involve the country of origin labelling to be modified to enable cattle born in the Republic of Ireland to retain their Irish identity if slaughtered anywhere on the island of Ireland.
The case could be made for extending this to include Britain or other EU countries, namely that where an animal is born determined its country of origin, not what happens afterwards.
However, the first priority should be to develop an island of Ireland solution.
The option of pursuing Irish cattle slaughtered in Northern Ireland carrying an Irish identity was rejected by the previous Government several years ago.
However, with the new programme for government having a commitment to working towards a “shared island”, an opportunity is created to revisit this issue in a positive way for Irish farmers by enabling Irish-born and -reared cattle retain their Irish country of origin identity, irrespective of where they are slaughtered on the island of Ireland.
Read more
Beef trade moves up a gear
NI Trends: base quotes holding at 360p/kg with lamb quotes rising
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