The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) began testing late last year for horse-meat contamination in supermarket foods because they were concerned about the prospect of large-scale fraud, according to the UK's spending watchdog.
The National Audit Office said the Food Safety Authority of Ireland began tests last November after they became concerned that "a substantial rise in beef prices" had not been reflected in increased charges in supermarkets, while "the worldwide price of horsemeat had fallen". It said the tests should also have been done in Britain.
“The Irish authority concluded that there were thus incentives for fraud,” said the NAO, which was sharply critical of changes made to food safety organisations in the UK by the Conservatives/Liberal Democrats coalition in 2010 when responsibility for food safety and standards was split between two bodies.
The Irish believed adulteration began “since at least 2012”, the NAO said.
“[The British government] recognises that it needs to improve its understanding of food supply chains and the potential for food fraud and is taking steps to do this,” said the report, entitled Food Safety and Authenticity in the Processed Meat Supply Chain.
“Stakeholders told us that the potential risk of adulteration should have been anticipated or deduced because the worldwide price of horsemeat had fallen, while beef prices had risen,” according to the NAO report, which is presented to the House of Commons today.
The split in responsibilities created in 2010 between the UK's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the UK Food Standards Agency had "weakened intelligence-sharing", and weakened links with the Irish authorities.
The FSAI has “a strong relationship” with the Food Standards Agency, but not with Defra, “despite the Food Safety Authority of Ireland having responsibility for food authenticity as well as food safety”, the NAO said.
“The Irish authority told us that they would find it helpful to understand the outcomes of [Defra’s] work to detect risks to food authenticity and likewise that this group would benefit from knowing what the Irish authority was doing,” it went on.
The British side was riddled with confusion in the opening weeks of the horsemeat crisis, with some Food Standards Agency officials unsure if they had the lead role, or whether they had to bow to Defra – even though the senior people in both organisations accepted that the FSA was in the lead.
