Again the in-experience of the current Government was all too evident this past week with the current crisis in the pig industry and more recently the meat industry.
The Department of Agriculture which seems to be over employed and with more regulators than other government department has created a huge crisis in the Irish meat industry.
A full withdrawal was a major mistake and a search for a
The lack of inspection on the factory was a bad slip up, feed suppliers factories Farmers could get 4 – 5 inspectors said one informed ag source.
We know of one pig farmer who has five inspections in this region. Surely more frequent inspections
Who was in charge of the inspections
Over regulation in one area and lack of regulation in another.
This is a massive blow to the Irish meat industry, which will find it hard to recover from.
Why did not the Minister show some caution to this blanket ban?
Was a blanket ban really necessary?
A huge scare like this is as bad as the British BSE.
Farmers suffered badly after the BSE and is the same medicine likely this time around.
Too much scare mongering is a bad thing.
This should not have happened.
Where is the negligence?
The lack of factory inspection is part of one reason.
Why were the free range or non factory supplied meal hit as one chef put it this week.
What is the Department doing in terms of traceability and why was this not Sorted in advance of the blanket ban.
Bacon could have been sourced but perhaps not sausages due to the mix involved,
It is time for the Department to get its priorities right and look at the feed suppliers as a matter of priority.
This is a calamity and resignations are surely required.
The previous minister Mary Coughlan could have dealt with it better with more experience.
Why change her, she seems out of her depth in Enterprise and Employment and finds it a hard brief to take up.
Too much change in the Cabinet with inexperienced people being put in charge.
She could have said stop to the blanket ban, given her knowledge and experience.
The competence of the Finance Minister is an issue for another day.
Some restaurants managers question intensive pig farming.
Was the right thing done for catering?
Restauranteur’s view
Controversial chef Richard Corrigan, who previously called for an end to battery hen farming today called for an end to the industrial farming of pigs.
Corrigan, of Bentley’s Bar and Grill in Dublin said pork producers “won’t recover” from the pig meat crisis, and that one supplier was crying on the phone to him over his predicament.
Corrigan was speaking on Lunchtime with Eamon Keane on Newstalk 106-108 fm.
“There’s a want in society for cheap food. There’s a Government need to produce cheap food. The end result of producing cheap food is things like this happening.
It gets me into all sorts of possible trouble. I do feel I don’t want to see a rasher from South America wrapped up with an Irish brand name sitting on it.
Corrigan says that the Food Standards Agency will come to the bottom of this very quickly, They’re thorough, they’re absolutely professional, and they’re there for a reason: to protect the consumer, and I’m sure they’ll do a brilliant job at sorting this out very quickly. But the problem still lies, the brand of Irish pork is damaged, there’s no question about that.
The Irish brand, agriculturally is fantastic, On Saturday the story started to break in the afternoon, and on Saturday night, the Irish Hotels Federation sent a fax to all hotels about contaminated pork produce and to remove it from the menu. So they acted very quickly in fairness. We were in a hotel in Dublin on Sunday morning and German pork was served.
Christmas is the holy grail of the pork business for the whole year. People won’t recover from this., said Corrigan.
These are artisans, small producers and live a day to day life already in business.
The health authority has acted, no one has died or is sick.
Contaminated Irish pork, sounds dreadful don’t mind about contaminated Ireland
There’s someone with a hundred thousand tons of pork in British warehouses yesterday morning, one of the big suppliers and it’s all going to have to be destroyed. What a waste.