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prosecution for mislabelling of beef and poultry |
 animal products On 6 March last, a meat company was successfully prosecuted for breaches of labelling legislation. They were selling poor quality Brazilian beef as Irish
On 6 March last, a meat company was successfully prosecuted for breaches of labelling legislation. M & G Butchers Limited and two of its directors, Mr Glen Duggan and Mr Michael Dunne each entered a plea of guilty to three charges. They admitted that M & G Butchers Limited, Ballymount, Dublin, had been in breach of both the general labelling and the beef labelling legislation.
The company was supplying beef labelled as Irish to its customers, however, the beef had originated in Brazil. Other beef products supplied by the company and labelled as Irish originated in Holland. The company also supplied poultry labelled as Irish that originally came from Poland. South Dublin County Council took the case as official agents of the FSAI. The FSAI worked closely with the County Council to bring this case to court and wish to commend it for taking this action.
The breaches of legislation came to light during the course of a labelling and traceability investigation carried out by Pat Farrell and Donal Cousins, Audit Managers, FSAI. The FSAI carried out a nationwide labelling and traceability audit, and in this instance, as a result of tracing meat products from a catering outlet, the investigating team in conjunction with veterinary inspectors of the South Dublin County Council, audited M & G Butchers on 17 November 2006. During the course of the audit a significant amount of product was discovered with incorrect labelling and traceability information. The audit team discovered there were systematic failures between reconciling product documentation with the actual labels on the products. As a result of the audit, the company voluntarily destroyed approximately €61,000 worth of meat products. It did this because the source of the product could not be authenticated due to the lack of traceability information available, and therefore could not be released into the food chain.
court hearing
During the court hearing, Mr Farrell explained to the court why the FSAI was concerned to such a degree with regards to the mislabelling of the meat products. He stated that there were two aspects that gave rise to this concern:
Consumer Interest: When a product is of Brazilian origin, it is cheaper to buy than a product of Irish origin. Therefore, consumers are being misled in the sense that they are paying higher prices for meat they think is Irish but is actually Brazilian.
Traceability: When meat is slaughtered and/or cut in a particular premises and then mislabelled as being slaughtered and/or cut in a different premises, traceability difficulties and problems in relation to product recall would arise if there was a public health issue in relation to the meat product.
In his summing up of the case, Judge Clyne noted that it is inevitable that mistakes are made and the mistakes made by M & G Butchers Ltd. were clearly identified to the court. Serious issues had arisen in respect of the mislabelling of the meat products as being of Irish origin. This would be misleading to the consumer, who would expect to pay different prices depending on the origin of the meat. More important, he noted, is the traceability issue where public health would be at serious risk. The correct labelling was not applied to the products to show their correct country of origin. Such mislabelling of product would cause great expense to the consumer in circumstances where the product could not be traced and this could have had catastrophic consequences.
Judge Clyne noted that these offences were criminal in nature but civil in matter, and as a result, there was no question of looking at a custodial sentence for the directors. He stated that as the directors had never been before the Court previously and had entered guilty pleas, he hoped that they had learnt their lesson. The Judge applied the benefit of the Probation Act to the company and the directors. M & G Butchers Limited and its directors agreed to make a €12,000 donation to St. Vincent de Paul and pay costs of €1,500 to South Dublin County Council.
The court ruling should also provide reassurance to consumers that illegal labelling of foodstuffs will not be accepted.
This is an example of the fraud that is going on in the Irish food chain at present. The quality of your meat should be very high. Fortunately in Ireland we have a high quality of animal products that are reared and produced locally. Don’t be afraid to quiz your butcher or food supplier on where your food originated, as at the restaurant to go to, ask at the pub you eat at, ask at the cafe where you have lunch sometimes - don’t feel awkward asking such questions - its your right to know the origin of your food and its your responsibility to control the quality of the food you put into you body. Don’t leave it to the shop owner or the restaurant owner or the supermarket owner to control the quality of your food, the most of these guy are there to make a profit and your health doesn’t come into it.
In Health
Gabriel
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