Consumer confidence in food-related industries may be restored with the creation of an independent Minister for Food says the chairman of the Consumers' Association of Ireland (CAI), Mr Peter Dargan. In the October issue of Consumer Choice magazine, Mr Dargan claims consumers are worse off when it comes to food quality than their grandparents were. Factory farming, heavily subsidised milk and beef markets and unscrupulous food-related practices have all damaged food quality.

"It is time that, like in the rest of the European Union, the issue of food and food related safety is taken away from the Department of Agriculture," he said.