A CAMPAIGN being run by the Swedish farmers' union against Irish beef has forced the Government to dispatch its own damage limitation team to Stockholm this week. A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture said the campaign was purely protective.
The Frenninge LRF Audeling has placed advertisements in newspapers and sent an open letter to the Swedish Agriculture Minister, Ms Annika Ahrmberg attacking imported beef on health and animal welfare grounds.
They allege that Irish beef may be contaminated with BSE salmonella or antibiotics, accusing Irish slaughterers of using exclusively the "barbaric" halal method of slaughter, and Swedish shopkeepers of mislabelling foreign beef.
The advertisements also allege that a quarter of Irish beef is "Belgian blue", whose breeding requires calves to be delivered by Caesarean.
The spokesman for the Department said that less than 1 per cent of Irish beef was Belgian blue and that the drying up of the Iran and Iraq markets meant there was virtually no halal butchering.
The Swedish market is worth in excess of £20 million to Ireland.
The delegation from Dublin includes the deputy chief veterinary officer, Mr Paddy Rogan, and Mr Patrick Moore of Bord Bia.
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