5th February, 2013

Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association beef chairman Edmond Phelan said after today’s Joint Oireachtas Committee meeting on the authenticity of burgers that “we still the need industry and the Minister to engage with the question – why are Irish companies importing meat to put in Irish burgers, and why does traceability only seem to apply to farmers?”
 
Mr Phelan was speaking after the appearance of the Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture in which he outlined the investigations into the revelations that horse meat has been detected in burgers.  
 
Mr Phelan re-iterated the ICSA position that it is unacceptable that farmers have been put through so much effort and scrutiny in order to guarantee traceability while at the same time, there has been a complete failure to apply the same standards further down the line.