Ulster Farmers' Anger Over Horsemeat Scandal

The Ulster Farmer’s Union (UFU) has said it is not prepared to accept any additional costs as a result of the ongoing horsemeat scandal.

UFU President Harry Sinclair said farmers have "gone to great efforts and expense to implement a world class traceability system complemented by the Farm Quality Assurance Scheme, from birth to farm gate in the red meat sector."

He said they have been badly let down by others in the food chain.

Mr Sinclair added: "Farmers have consistently been forced to take low incomes in the beef sector as supermarkets and processors relentlessly press for low prices."

Then scandal began in Northern Ireland on Sunday 3 February when it emerged that a County Tyrone food company had supplied halal products to UK prisons that contained traces of pork DNA.

Then on Tuesday 5 February, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) revealed that a cold store in County Down contained meat which was confirmed to be about 80% horsemeat.

The Newry firm, Freeza Meat, said it was only storing the meat at the request of a company in the Republic of Ireland and that none of the meat had been served to the public.

Then two days later, the FSA said packs of Findus beef lasagne in Great Britain contained up to 100% horsemeat.

The scandal first broke in the Republic of Ireland on 16 January, with Irish companies saying the meat had come from suppliers in Poland.

But the horsemeat lasagne had been supplied to Findus by the French food company, Comigel.

Harry Sinclair has advocated the Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assurance Scheme for beef, saying local government departments should immediately change their public procurement policies so that food purchased from the public purse is guaranteed quality beef from local farms.

He said: "Every effort must be made to safeguard the integrity of our beef industry.

"Government, processors and retailers must all step up to the mark and I reiterate that farmers, whose incomes fell by over 50% last year, will not accept the burden of any extra costs which may be imposed because of the actions of others in the food chain".

(IT)