We produce enough food for 10 times our population, but the horsemeat scandal shows just how inequality has forced people to low-price, low-quality food, writes Richard Manton.
The meatballs would only be sold or given away in Sweden, however. The company has said that Ikea stores in other countries would have to follow local rules and regulations.
Earlier the Netherlands’ food safety agency said that a Dutch supplier may have distributed as much as 50,000 tonnes of contaminated beef to companies across Europe.
The Department of Agriculture refused to release over a hundred pages of emails between it and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland following a Freedom of Information request.
The company says it has carried out an investigation into all its beef products after some had to be withdrawn in February after horse DNA tests proved positive.
Rangeland says all products are now being DNA tested before release, after Compass Group says it found horse DNA samples in its products despite Rangeland’s assurances.
Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney described the complex supply chain that led to one case of horsemeat ending up in frozen beef products in an interview this morning.
Agriculture Minister, including Simon Coveney, meet today as officials in the UK last night raided two firms alleged to be connected to the mislabelling of meat products.
Attention is now turning to the complex nature of supply chains in the food industry in Europe as a Romanian abattoir is identified as one possible source of the contamination of frozen beef products.
The head of the British parliament’s food affairs scrutiny panel has called for a ban on importing meat from EU countries until the horsemeat scandal is resolved.
France’s Ministry of Agriculture is launching an investigation into the ongoing horsemeat scandal, which it says they consider a matter of “criminal fraud”.
In the wake of yet more details about beef products contaminated with horse meat, Patrick Burke asks why Ireland’s beef industry – valued at €1.9bn exports in 2012 – has been importing raw food ingredients from Poland in the first place.
The product, which was found to contain up to 100 per cent horse meat in the UK, was withdrawn from Tesco shelves on Wednesday but the FSAI was not informed.
GARDAÍ ARE SET to be granted new powers to use facial-recognition technology that could lead to the rapid identification of criminals.
The technology enables police forces to carry out automated searches of video footage for suspects in criminal investigations.
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Minister for Justice Helen McEntee is expected to announce the move at the Garda Representative Association annual conference today.
The minister will say the introduction of facial-recognition technology will greatly assist murder, child exploitation and missing persons investigations.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) said it is “strongly opposed” to the technology being used by law enforcement, saying An Garda Síochána has a “poor record on data protection”.
“FRT [facial-recognition technology] and other biometric surveillance tools enable mass surveillance and discriminatory targeted surveillance
“They have the capacity to identify and track people everywhere they go, undermining the right to privacy and data protection, the right to free assembly and association, and the right to equality and non-discrimination,” the ICCL said.
So, today we’re asking: How do you feel about gardaí using facial recognition technology to identify suspects?
Poll Results:
I fully support it (2143)
I have some concerns, but am broadly in favour (1364)
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