Irish farmers seem blind to the consequences of a new EU directive which will hold them liable if they produce unsafe produce, a food lawyer has warned.
"Farmers better be prepared by the end of this year for the possibility of legal proceedings against them by litigious consumers," said Mr Raymond O'Rourke, of Mason Hayes & Curran Solicitors, Dublin.
By then, the Product Liability Directive would have been extended to primary agricultural products such as beef, milk, fruit and vegetables.
"The dioxin contamination scandal in Belgium should be a warning to farmers they can expect court cases against them if there is any proof they were responsible for putting unsafe food in the food chain," Mr O'Rourke said.
He told the food law conference in TCD he did not believe farmer organisations, notably the IFA and ICMSA, or the ICOS, which represents co-operatives, were treating the issue with the seriousness required.
The food industry would be subjected to "stiffer definition of `safety' under the General Product Safety Directive", which might also mean they could face litigation in different jurisdictions by consumers with enhanced rights under reforms proposed by the EU Commissioner, Mr David Byrne. With GMOs, including their use in GM foods, covered by a new environmental liability regime, "no part of the food chain will therefore be immune to litigation".
Ms Kathryn Raleigh, of IBEC's food and drink federation, said the European Commission might be taking too narrow a view in advocating better consumer information by concentrating on improved labelling.
Food labels were not large enough to cater for the kind of information consumers wanted to make informed choices, she said. It warranted a broader and more imaginative approach.
Ms Raleigh said the Irish food industry was very supportive of Mr Byrne's plan to overhaul EU food law and set up a European food authority, but there was a risk that with an absence of sanctions its decisions could be ignored.
