Newry, Mourne and Down Council accepts grant to protect non-food consumer safety

By Local Democracy Reporter, Donal McMahon Fears over a Christmas of horsemeat lasagne and vegetables treated with "potent" chemicals have been raised as a council was awarded a UK grant aimed at improving consumer safety.

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council has accepted up to £55,00 of funding linked to the NI Protocol, from the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), to help protect the UK non-food market.

However, the environment committee chamber heard concerns for food consumer protection, following a horse meat scandal when a Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (NMDDC) surprise food inspection discovered a Europe wide horsemeat conspiracy.

Mournes DUP Councillor, Henry Reilly questioned if funding for food safety could now also be gained to protect the consumer.

He said: "Will there be any grants towards food safety? As we all remember the scandal of the horsemeat lasagna and we don't want a repeat of horsemeat in the food supply.

"There should be routine sampling.

"There are still people out there using very potent insecticides by contact and systemic on vegetables.

"I think there is not nearly enough testing done.

"I remember environmental health here, used to do occasional testing for chemical residues in food.

"Do we do anything like that now in-house?"

The horsemeat plot was discovered in September 2012 when NMDDC health inspectors made an unannounced visit to a Newry storage facility and found pallets containing horsemeat.

The authorities later sifted through 12 tonnes of meat by hand and horse ID chips, about the size of a grain of rice, were found.

UK supermarkets were exposed to the horsemeat contamination crisis, with products such as lasagne labelled as beef and other meat meals found to contain levels of horse flesh.

Cllr Reilly added: "I would be grateful for a report on the number of samples taken at random and the type of food whether it's lettuce or Brussel sprouts.

"Especially on the run up to Christmas, sometimes farmers get carried away and spray their sprouts and there is no withdrawal period.

"It's very important for the consumer, as you don't want to be eating a load of organophosphate."

A council officer responded: "In terms of the regulation of food products that is managed through the environmental health commercial team, responsible for food safety in terms of bacteria and food poisoning.

"In terms of the product being what it should be and food fraud, there is a sampling programme in place for both microbiological and chemical sampling.

"This is done routinely on a variety of products.

"Local authorities would focus on the manufacturers in their own area, but would also include imported foods from various countries.

"The work is ongoing and continuous in the background.

"A report can be made on the sampling and the results over the last number of years."

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