‘Horses for courses’ is an expression conveying that what is suitable for one person or situation might be unsuitable for another. How apt that it turns out some of us have been served up horsemeat as part of our daily diet for an unknown period in a range of meat-based processed foods.
So where are we now? A processing industry and a retail sector that the public cannot trust or rely upon to provide us with authentic food? The truth is far from this. All walks of life continue to depend heavily on both sectors to meet our daily needs for safe, handy and economically priced food. Yet the reputation of our food industries across the Island of Ireland has been a lot better.
Yet we must remember that what turned out to be a European-wide scandal of epic proportions was first flagged up by our authorities on both sides of the border. Thus we can rightly claim to have more robust monitoring systems than many other member states. However, it is clear to all (or at least nearly everyone) that we need to get better at protecting the integrity of the food we produce, both fresh and processed. We need to operate a fortress mentality where we are wary of all raw materials we import and can guarantee that all our finished products are assured to the highest possible standards. None of the three pillars of our food industry {SAFETY: QUALITY: AUTHENTICITY} should be rocked again but instead stand tall and firm in the face of all future challenges.
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Ray Ellard, consumer production director of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland yesterday highlighted Ireland's role in uncovering the horsemeat fraud and how some people are not happy about it, particularly Westminster MPs. Article in today's Irish Times worth a read!
Annoyance that ‘the Paddies’ uncovered horse meat scandal, conferen...