Farmers could be sued for produce contaminated by factors outside their control, under a new EU directive.
The original directive was made in 1985 but Ireland availed of a derogation for agricultural produce until last December. The derogation was lifted when an EU committee, inquiring into the BSE crisis, recommended that the directive be extended to cover produce in all 15 member-states.
Sweden, Luxembourg, Finland and Greece had already included farm produce in their regulations.
Liability arises where a consumer has been injured by a defective product and can link the injury with the product. "Defective" is defined as not meeting the safety standards a person is entitled to expect. This is decided on a case by case basis, said an EU spokesman.
So, if a consumer contracted CJD from eating meat which was traced back to an individual farm, the farmer could be sued. The fact the BSE contamination may have come from feed-stuffs manufactured elsewhere would not protect the farmer, according to the EU Commission.
It would be the same if a factory or local industry contaminated a food product, the spokesman said. "I would say the farmer could be liable but he could take redress against the source of the pollution."
Both the Commission and the Department of Agriculture pointed out that the practicalities of the law would only become apparent once a legal action was taken.
The EU Commission has not heard of such a case being taken in the four countries which introduced the directive earlier, the Commission spokesman said.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture said it would be extremely difficult to take an action, given that it must be proved that the product caused the injury/illness and that the product must be traced back to the farm of origin. "It would be a matter for the civil courts really."
The Irish Farmers' Association said it was concerned about liability where a defect was caused by factors outside the farmer's control. "Farmers will accept their responsibilities, of course, but they cannot accept responsibility for something which may happen in the processing of the product."
On BSE, the spokesman said rigorous safety procedures made it extremely unlikely an animal carrying BSE would enter the food chain today.
The question of a legal action was theoretical at the moment but given the litigious nature of society, it would not be unrealistic to see a case being taken. "We won't know how it will work until that happens."
Apart from BSE, contaminated feed was at the centre of two other recent food scares in Europe. In June 1999 it emerged that animal feed-stuffs had been heavily contaminated by dioxins in Belgium. Two months later French authorities discovered that untreated animal sewage was used in the manufacture of pig and poultry feed.
