Bord Bia says it has moved to reassure overseas customers after traces of pig and horse DNA were found in Irish beef.
The body, tasked with the commercial success of Irish food and drink abroad, said it began contacting customers on Tuesday.
“It’s mainly been us proactively contacting them as a courtesy, but some have contacted us too,” a spokeswoman said. “In some cases, Irish exporters themselves have contacted their own customers.”
“Thus far, they’ve been very understanding about it and expressed their need to remain informed,”she said of trade buyer and retailer reaction.
Exports of frozen beef burgers and other uncooked processed beef were valued at €170 million in 2011, according to Bord Bia. The UK accounted for 80 per cent of these exports. Some €23.7 million worth of fresh and frozen burgers were consumed in this State last year.
“We need to make sure that whatever the resolution or solution is at the end, that it is communicated as quickly as possible to all concerned,” the spokeswoman said.
Meanwhile, Ciara Jackson, head of food at chartered accountants and business advisers Grant Thornton, warned that every second the horsemeat story runs on Sky News could translate into millions of euro in lost sales.
She said years of effort and investment had been devoted to building Ireland as a food brand that stood for sustainability and quality. This controversy risked undermining that work overnight.
“The integrity of Ireland’s food supply chain is the bedrock that underpins a food and drink industry that contributed €9 billion to Irish exports last year,” she said.
IFA president John Bryan described the presence of pig and horse DNA in Irish beef as “unacceptable”. He said through double-tagging at birth, Department of Agriculture animal passports and the recording of animal movement, there was “a comprehensive system of cattle identification and traceability at farm level”.
The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association president Gabriel Gilmartin called on the processing plants involved in the horse DNA controversy to explain what proportion of their burgers consisted of imported product.
“Are the imports limited to trace ingredients, gelling agents or flavourings or are they actually imports of meat which is making up a substantial portion of the burger?” he asked.
Green Party food and agriculture spokesman Seamus Sheridan said the study showed, once again, that large-scale industrial farming and processing were damaging our reputation for good food.
“It’s time for us to accept that, if we want a successful agricultural sector that trades on a green image, we can’t hand over our agricultural future to large multinationals, which is just what Simon Coveney, Fine Gael and the IFA are willingly doing,” he said.
Good Food Ireland said the findings of the burger study reiterated the importance of the provenance of food. Its managing director Margaret Jeffares said this country was known for its first-class grass-fed beef system, and heritage breeds like Angus and Hereford, which produced beef of superlative taste and texture. “When you buy locally produced food, you are getting the guarantee of trust that what you buy will be of the highest quality, taste, and most importantly, safe to eat,” she said. “The findings have reinforced the Good Food Ireland ethos around the importance of buying local, eating local and thinking local when it comes to food,”Ms Jeffares added.
