THE CHAIRMAN of the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee, Bernard Allen, clashed yesterday with the chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Dr John O’Brien, over the delay in publishing a report on bottled water last year.
“I believe Irish consumers were let down by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland which put business interests before them by not revealing the contents of a report into adulterated bottled water,” Mr Allen told Dr O’Brien.
Dr O’Brien was before the committee as it was dealing with a Comptroller and Auditor General’s report into the accountability of North-South bodies. But during the hearing, the chairman asked Dr O’Brien why the report showing E.coli had not been released and how long he had known about the contamination.
Dr O’Brien disagreed with the chairman’s statement the bottled water concerned was adulterated and said at no stage last year when the report was being considered was any consumer at risk.
He outlined the history of the event which dated back to the end of 2007 when 1,000 samples of bottled water were taken by environmental health officers. He said levels of E.coli were found in the samples and these are a primary indicator of faecal contamination.
He said this did not mean the bottled water was dangerous to health because humans ingest E.coli every day in food.
He said in two cases where levels did pose a risk, public alerts had been issued by the FSAI and in other cases plants were visited to review hygiene standards.
Asked by the chairman why he had told Ibec about the findings of high levels of contamination when consumers were kept in the dark, Dr O’Brien said this was not the case. He said a draft report for the FSAI’s Scientific Committee had been drawn up by late August last but because the findings were subject to interpretation by a world expert, it had not been released.
He had contacted the Beverage Council of Ireland, not Ibec, about the findings which were challenged by a world authority, John Fowler, and it would have been irresponsible to publish the draft report until it was fully checked.
Mr Allen said he was still dissatisfied the industry was put before the consumer.
Earlier, Dr O’Brien, had been questioned by Brendan Kenneally (FF) on what he thought was too many staff carrying out inspections of food establishments.
Dr O’Brien said a total of 45,503 food establishments were supervised by the official agencies but that the FSAI was only responsible for funding the Local Authority Veterinary Service, which cost €7.8 million. He said he would estimate the supervision of food production cost the State €90-€100 million annually and was necessary.