Farmers, fishermen and other primary producers of food face being sued by consumers in future if they produce unsafe food, food lawyer Mr Raymond O'Rourke has warned.

The EU Product Liability Directive, in force since December, covers the entire food chain, and not just companies which process food, Mr O'Rourke told a conference in Trinity College, Dublin, on Saturday.

As a consequence, primary producers could be sued by consumers.

Mr O'Rourke, a lawyer with Mason Hayes and Curran in Dublin, says it was a major oversight on the part of the agricultural sector not to try to have a force majeure defence - a compelling defence clause - put into the legislation.

This should have been possible because primary producers were at the mercy of weather, pollution and natural disasters.

"In such cases farmers may legitimately wonder why liability should be borne by them but that will be the case in the absence of a force majeure defence."