Food industry rejects increased regulation

FOOD INDUSTRY representatives rejected calls for increased regulation at an Oireachtas European affairs committee meeting yesterday.

During a discussion of the European Commission’s Green Paper on agricultural product quality, Michael Barry, a senior executive with the Food and Drink Industry of Ireland, said too much bureaucracy could work against the industry’s competitiveness in the global market. “There are times you get further faster with self-regulation.”

Self-regulation was the appropriate means of drafting, implementing and controlling marketing standards, he said.

The Irish Farmers’ Association’s deputy president, Derek Deane, warned: “We cannot lose our competitive edge due to the cost of over-regulation.”

Labour TD Joe Costello had earlier said he was opposed to light regulation in the food sector. “We saw it in the banking sector – self-regulation does not work.”

Fianna Fáil TD Mary O’Rourke said she was pleased light regulation was “no longer fashionable”.

“Light regulation has been given its goodbye and a kick in the backside... If you proposed heavy regulation years ago you were an interventionist, a socialist, or whatever, but you certainly weren’t modern.”

Meanwhile, Mr Barry said while he did not oppose country-of-origin labelling, existing labelling regulations were sufficient.

Mr Deane said he disagreed. “It needs to be transparent. It needs to be what it says on the tin.”

Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association president Malcolm Thompson said it was “high time that the consumer’s right to simple, unambiguous information is vindicated”.

Irish produce sold abroad could be made more easily identifiable by replacing the Tricolour logo with a map of Ireland.

“The Irish flag is practically identical to the Italian flag,” he said.

Fianna Fáil TD Timmy Dooley said the image of Irish produce abroad needed to be examined. “From what I have seen visiting other countries, Irish meat products are not on the top shelf. They are on the bottom.”