The Minister for Agriculture has criticised the bickering between the various organisations involved in getting the National Beef Assurance Scheme off the ground.
Officially opening the Great Food and Wine Show in the RDS, Dublin, yesterday, Mr Walsh said the Estimates had provided £6.5 million to set up the scheme, which will guarantee the quality of Irish beef from farm to fork. The funds will provide computerisation to trace all Irish beef animals.
The scheme is being delayed because of a lack of agreement between the veterinary organisations and the farm organisations and Teagasc, which may also be involved in the monitoring process.
He was critical too of the commercial beef processing sector for not putting a voluntary code of food safety in place.
"I believe the best practices in food quality assurance are voluntary and we should look no further than our dairy industry. The 1924 Dairy Producers Act is a good way back, yet we have world brand leaders based on Irish cream and cheese that you would never consider there would be a difficulty with.
"These are all run by voluntary schemes, by incentives to producers, by co-operatives themselves getting out there and giving practical hands-on advice and education to their producers. It is a last resort really for regulatory authorities to have an inspectorate system put into place to insist on good practices for good food for consumers," said the Minister.
Mr Walsh also felt the abuses of angel dust in beef production were at an end. "All the recent analyses we have conducted show a dramatic reduction in residues in food. I think we have addressed that problem and cleaned up our act in that regard." At the show, which has a high level of Northern exhibitors, Mr Peter Small, permanent secretary of the Department of Agriculture in Northern Ireland, spoke of the hopes in the North that the ban on beef exports because of BSE may soon be lifted.
He said the next few weeks will be critical for having the ban removed.