THE Fianna Fail leader, Mr Ahern, has indicated that he favours separate food and agriculture departments.
Speaking at the launch of his party's proposal for an independent Food Quality Authority yesterday, he said: "Food should be separate."
The Fianna Fail spokesman on Agriculture, Food, and Forestry, Mr Brian Cowen, said that "quite clearly people's perceptions have changed materially as regards food".
There had been a "sea change" in public attitude since the eruption of the BSE/CJD crisis, he said, and it was "the job of politicians and the Government to respond to that perception".
He said the proposed Food Quality Authority would be "the most fundamental change in policy since the establishment of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction in 1900".
He attacked "the Government's woolly thinking and make it up as you go along attitude to this crisis".
The Government's proposal to place the Food Safety Advisory Board on a statutory basis was "fatally flawed".
It presupposes existing agencies and departments "are capable of operating without a major restructuring", he said.
His party proposes "a single Food Quality Authority" which would have powers to set new standards for all food production.
It would devise and implement independently verifiable control systems and impose effective sanctions where they were needed.
Composed of representatives from consumer interest groups, health professionals, producers and processors, it would take control of staff and the relevant resources "currently employed among the different departments and agencies".
It would ensure the right of consumers to "an unequivocal assurance of the safety of food products and the necessary information to make that judgment".
