Tesco commits to Country of Origin Labelling

ifa-logoThe Chairman of the IFA Pigs and Pigmeat Committee Tim Cullinan has welcomed Tesco’s commitment that all rashers, bacon and ham will now be labelled with their country-of-origin from next month. The commitment from Tesco must be delivered on immediately and must comply to the same standards as operates in the UK.

Tim Cullinan said, “this will eliminate the confusion that exists at the moment. Consumers are entitled to be in a position to make informed decisions when it comes to shopping for meat. The placing of a country-of-origin label will remove any ambiguity that has allowed imports to be passed off as Irish and follows an intensive IFA campaign.”

Mr. Cullianan called on all supermarket groups to immediately follow suit with country of origin labelling to eliminate the confusing and misleading labelling practices.

Mr. Cullinan said “Consumers want to support Irish produce because of its high standards, but are unable to do this because of mislabelling practices. Pig producers here have been undermined by the absence of a country-of-origin label, and this move will give consumers the clarity they want.”

Concluding Mr. Cullinan said “Processors must immediately move to increase prices to farmers struggling to survive at the existing unviable price levels”.

The IFA Poultry Chairman Alo Mohan said that Tesco must now move to commit to a significant increase in the volume of Irish chicken on their supermarket shelves.  This is what Irish consumers want and at a minimum the volume of ROI product must increase and country of origin labelling must be introduced for all poultry products.

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