08 December 2008
Statement by TUV MEP Jim Allister:-
Our hard-pressed pig sector can ill afford the blow of pork withdrawal from the shelves, particularly at this key time of the year. I trust the FSA response will be kept under constant review and at all times be proportionate. With only 9 Northern Ireland farms potentially affected, if even that number, we can’t see the whole sector plunged into a protracted curb on sales. Unaffected produce must still be got to the market. The traceability which we have should be able to fine tune this very swiftly. FSA must not subject us to more restrictions than are warranted.
Questions do arise however about how this Republic of Ireland feed mill came to produce this contaminated feedstuff, which then was imported onto this handful of farms in Northern Ireland. In its own way this episode is a warning against slack cross-border importations and checks. For her own political purposes Minister Gildernew loves to talk of “Fortress Ireland”, well, sometimes protecting our own agri-food sector may require a “Fortress Northern Ireland” strategy.
There are EU rules governing the conduct of feedmills and in the aftermath of this dioxin contamination I will be pressing to see how the Republic’s authorities allowed this situation to develop.”
Agriculture and Environment
