The new all-Ireland Food Safety Promotion Board presents a much stronger base for the marketing of Irish food in Europe backed by evidence of the strictest quality controls throughout the island, according to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland head, Dr Patrick Wall.
The FSAI will complement the role of the new body, which was born out of the peace process, Dr Wall said, following the spelling out of the specific roles of the two organisations. "There has never been a better opportunity for Ireland and food safety to become synonymous," he added.
A member of the FSAI staff, Mr Martin Higgins, who was previously with the Department of Health, is to act as interim chief executive of the Food Safety Promotion Board (FSPB) which will be based in Cork.
The FSPB will on an all-Ireland basis develop promotional and awareness campaigns, identify and commission scientific research, develop and monitor food alert protocols (arrangements to ensure effective management of food poisoning outbreaks and food scares). It will also establish all-Ireland food borne disease surveillance systems to ensure food-related illnesses are meticulously recorded and tracked.
In addition, the new body will promote scientific co-operation and linkages between laboratories and develop specialised laboratory testing. Of key importance will be "typing" facilities which can identify the exact type of microbe responsible for disease outbreaks - up to now, many samples have to be sent to Britain for "typing" which introduced inevitable delays. This, in turn, meant sources of infection were not identified as quickly as they should have been. In many cases, they were not found at all.
The FSAI will maintain responsibility for enforcement of all food safety legislation in the Republic. It will co-ordinate food safety activities "from the farm gate to the point of sale whether in supermarkets or restaurants".
The authority will carry out food safety inspection and enforcement through the 1,900 staff working for various agencies contracted to the FSAI by way of service contracts - this week the authority held the last of 18 regional consultation meetings in Sligo with food safety and health professionals who will report to the FSAI.
"The authority will continue to work to protect consumers by ensuring industry takes all reasonable steps to produce safe food," Dr Wall said.
According to Dr Wall, the dual approach of inspection and enforcement on the one hand, and encouraging higher production standards on the other, was vital to the development of the concept of Ireland as "the food island" within Europe. Everyone involved in the food chain would have a role in promoting this including farmers.
"Creating total reassurance for Irish consumers and purchasers of Irish food abroad will not come easily, but we need to be able to say whether we are better or worse than last year (in controlling food-related infection), and show in black and white we are better than our competitors."
He warned, however, that food production was a competitive global business with all purchasers of food including Third World countries now looking for science-based assurance on food safety. "Rolls Royce' monitoring and audit programmes are essential if Irish food is to be regarded as `special'."
