The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food has been asked to examine procedures governing the importation of beef from outside the EU, especially from Latin America.
The request was made yesterday by Deputy Billy Timmins, Fine Gael's spokesman on agriculture and food, who said EU investigators had found serious problems with some of the meat plants, especially in Argentina, where one plant had no freezer storage facilities.
Mr Timmins said he had written to the chairman of the Oireachtas Committee, Mr Johnny Brady, asking for an investigation following publication of a report by the EU Food and Veterinary Office earlier this year. That report looked at the level of animal health controls in Brazil and Argentina.
"The report raised some very serious questions about the deficiencies in the Brazilian system, especially over the safety of meat production there, and I believe that given the amount of beef coming here from Brazil, the Oireachtas Committee should look at the issues involved."
Beef imports from Argentina are far lower than from Brazil.
He said EU inspectors had found inconsistencies in relation to farm registration in Brazil, and this raised questions about the identification of animals. The Brazilian authorities had guaranteed to carry out six annual supervisory visits to EU-approved plants, but this had not happened.
Mr Timmins said serious deficiencies were found in one EU-approved plant relating to layout, equipment and hygiene, of which the report said, "a risk to the consumer could not be excluded". This plant had subsequently been suspended from exporting to the EU.