Poultry farmers outraged over ‘Irish’ labels on foreign chicken
POULTRY farmers are demanding a commitment from Kerry Foods to support Irish-produced chicken after revelations that chicken sold under the Denny label did not come from Ireland.
Addressing a protest at the Kerry Foods plant in Shillelagh, Co Wicklow, yesterday, IFA poultry chairman Andy Boylan said the fact that Kerry Foods originally claimed the chicken came from Brazil, but then that it came from other countries, only added to the general confusion for consumers.
The IFA said Kerry Foods was exploiting a loophole in current labelling legislation, which it said meant Irish consumers were being misled into thinking they were buying locally produced food.
It is calling for the country of origin of the primary source of meat used in prepared foods to be clearly stated on the packaging of Kerry Food products and its subsidiary brands, including Denny, to ensure Irish consumers understand the origin of the product they are buying.
Denny admitted this week that the chicken in its ‘Made in Wicklow’ chicken wasn’t from Brazil, as it had initially informed journalist Katy McGuinness, but actually came from Holland.
The meat producer said it made a mistake in saying its ‘Made in Wicklow’ product was made with chicken from
Brazil.
It also insisted it sourced all its chicken from Northern Ireland, Britain and European suppliers, with none coming from Brazil or outside the EU.
Asked why it doesn’t source all its chicken in Ireland and whether its decision to import chicken and pigmeat is down to cost, it said: “In Ireland, the cooked chicken consumption is predominately breast meat and this creates an imbalance in requirements.
“To ensure we can always meet the demand and provide consistently high quality, we also source chicken breast from EU-approved suppliers who meet our strict standards of quality and traceability.”
It also said, in relation to pork processed in the same Wicklow factory which has been picketed previously by pig farmers over the importation of pig meat, that its policy was to “source as much of our pork meat from Irish suppliers as possible”.
It also said that sometimes it had to import pigmeat as some customers wanted pork from certain customers.
Denny also said its packaging fully complied with the strict EU labelling regulations and that the ‘Made in Wicklow’ claim refers to the product being cooked, cooled, sliced, packaged and labelled in Co Wicklow.
The IFA is calling for the closure of the loophole in the current labelling legislation which it said was allowing companies mislead consumers and reinforced the importance of trusting the Bord Bia Quality Assurance label.