The controversial new food assurance scheme announced by the country's four veterinary organisations to ensure that "food right back to farm level" is properly audited and safe must be endorsed by the Department of Agriculture, their spokesman has said.
Farmers' reservations about the scheme had to be addressed, but Ireland could not afford not to have a certified meat and milk assurance programme in the short term, according to Mr Diarmuid Dooge of the Veterinary Certified Food Assurance Board (VCFAB). The board was set up by the vets to oversee a programme.
The Department was introducing its own beef quality assurance scheme but it could be more than a year before it is operational, he said. "We feel it cannot wait any longer."
The board met the Minister for Food, Mr Ned O'Keeffe, yesterday to put their case for endorsement of their initiative, and were confident it will be forthcoming.
"Our scheme is about prevention and elimination of risks from the producer up," Mr Dooge said. "The consumer has got to have confidence in and proof of the safety, wholesomeness and quality of Irish meat. We believe the Department will facilitate this."
Mr O'Keeffe said he was "committed and determined to progress a consensual approach to meat quality assurance".
This, with the absence of a "scare agenda", would ensure transparency, which he believed was a prerequisite for customer confidence.
The practicalities of the programme have to be ironed out, Mr Dooge said. The co-operation of farming organisations had to be secured. He hoped his board would soon meet the IFA. The vets, he said, were not deterred by criticism of the programme by farmers, who have accused them of trying to create a monopoly for their members, at farm level and in the area of food safety.
The vets had taken 18 months to devise the programme, although it had not been endorsed by An Bord Bia, the State's food marketing and development board. He believed this was because of farming interests on its board.
At the meeting with Mr O'Keeffe, the VCFAB stressed the importance of training for farm auditors, but the Minister had reservations about introducing a new tier of farm inspectors.
The vets said the programme could reduce the numbers required. Private vets are due to be in the first line of auditors while the second would be made up of Department and local authority vets.
