Allister pays visit to Balmoral
16 May 2008
Traditional Unionist MEP Jim Allister commenting on his visit to Balmoral:
“One of the key messages coming from the farmers I spoke to at Balmoral is the need to recoup the recent hikes in feed, fertiliser and fuel costs through higher farm gate prices. Issues such as food security and food price inflation are very much coming back on the agenda.”
“The show is a reminder of the daily efforts required to produce quality Northern Ireland food on behalf of local consumers. Regrettably, the ever increasing standards of animal welfare, environmental compliance and other consumer-orientated legislation delivered by local farmers often fails to apply to imports. This was certainly the conclusion I made during a recent visit to Brazil.”
“Certainly, much more could be done to create an even playing field for local farmers, at EU and at a local level. There is an increasing risk that local food, which is produced to the highest EU standards at additional cost, is displaced with imports which do not adhere to those same standards. Fundamentally, this is unfair to local farmers, and is something I continually fight against in Brussels. Closer to home, much more could be done to ensure all meat sold at retail and in restaurants is clearly labelled with country of origin information. I have raised this particular issue recently with the Food Standards Agency.”
ENDS
