6 December 2018 - Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ashtown, Dublin 15 

Recent events, such as the sale of horsemeat as beef, the deliberate contamination of strawberries with needles in Australia and the sale of Accord potatoes as early Queens in Ireland, highlight the topicality of the related issues of food fraud and food defence.  All food businesses are exposed to such supply chain threats and vulnerabilities, which, if not prevented or adequately responded to, may result in illness and death, as well as in economic and reputational damage to individual companies, and indeed the wider food industry.

This one-day  seminar will gather representatives from research, industry, public health agencies, regulatory authorities and other stakeholders engaged in the management of food supply chain within the Island of Ireland (IoI). It will feature the results of a research project carried out by researchers based at University College Cork and Teagasc (funded by safefood) who looked at the perceived level of exposure of the sector on the island, examined proactive approaches undertaken in other jurisdictions to deal with such risks, and determined the feasibility of integrating such approaches into agrifood production and supply chains on the island of Ireland.  Furthermore, it will provide a forum to discuss and debate actions that will be critical to ensuring resilient agrifood supply chains on the island as a whole.  The second part of the day focuses in particular on blockchain and its potential role in ensuring food supply chain integrity, as well as other strategic opportunities presented by the technology.