Farmers want new food ombudsman to have powers of investigation Ombudsman would enforce EU rules on food supply chains
about 3 hours ago
A public consultation has begun on the role of a proposed national food ombudsman, which would have powers to investigate unfair business and trading practices.
The Programme for Government committed to setting up a new authority called the National Food Ombudsman, in order to enforce new EU rules on food supply chains.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said the proposed new ombudsman office would bring more transparency to pricing and other parts of the supply chain.
In recent years the farming lobby has been highly critical of food processors, who they claim have been setting unfair prices for farmers, particularly in the beef sector.
“Unless and until” the difficulty of “cut-price food” is tackled it will be hard to persuade farmers to deliver more on climate action and the environment, EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness has warned.
Speaking at last night’s Meath IFA AGM the Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union emphasised the importance of the looming appointment of a National Food Ombudsman and transposition of the Unfair Trading Practices Directive into Irish law this May.
The Fine Gael politician also questioned some controversial supply issues currently operating within the food production chain – namely, the importation of peat to support the country’s horticulture sector; and Ireland’s reliance of feed imports from third countries to meet livestock ration demands.
The introduction of a food ombudsman and legislation on the Fair Deal scheme will be tackled by the current Government, Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) yesterday.