Supermarkets cannot continue to force down the price they pay to food suppliers while at the same time insisting on the highest standards of quality and traceability, a leading Irish food expert has warned. Seán Mac Connell,Agriculture Correspondent, reports.
Prof Patrick Wall, the chairman of the European Food Safety Authority, said supermarkets would eventually have to pay for both the product and the reassurance that "Rolls Royce"standards require.
"Will the supermarket multiples face up to their responsibilities and realise that constantly shaving prices does affect standards? Sourcing the cheapest product on the global market puts their brands, reputation and share price at risk, but more importantly could damage their customers' health," he said.
"There is a cost of compliance with animal welfare and food safety standards. Unless producers are adequately compensated, this can threaten their commercial viability," he added.
Speaking at the opening of the Agricultural Science Association Conference in Trim, Co Meath, last night, he wondered if the majority of consumers who were concerned about animal welfare were prepared to pay more to be assured that animal welfare standards were high.
Prof Wall said concerns expressed by Irish farmers about the inequity in standards between EU and Brazilian beef production were reasonable.
However, the Irish industry must seriously examine if it is "best in class" when it comes to animal health status. "Ireland the Food Island" should become a role model for other countries to aspire to, he said.
He warned that recent outbreaks of animal diseases here and the outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Galway pointed to a need for much greater surveillance and showed there was room for improvement.
The conference, which will be officially opened by the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan, will examine a wide range of topics, including the European Commission's proposal to abolish mandatory "set aside" to increase EU cereal production from this autumn.
The commission said yesterday that the EU had a lower than expected harvest in 2006 (265.5 million tonnes) which led to tightening supplies at the end of marketing year 2006/2007 and to historically high prices. Reducing the area that had to be taken out of production would help increase output, it said.