The discovery of plastic and muscle fibres in a consignment of surplus food imported as animal feed to Ireland could shine a spotlight on food production, according to the Irish Grain Growers Group (IGGG).
The contaminated feed was contained in a delivery from the United Kingdom (UK) to a farm in the south of Ireland late last year.
The IGGG praised the response of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) in relation to the incident but said questions remain to be answered.
Bobby Miller, chair of the IGGG, said the “department are rigorous in their testing”.
“There are excellent testing facilities for this particular case and I have no doubt that they did everything they could,” Miller said.
But he also added: “I could ask this question should consumers be concerned that this is the reality of food production in this day and age?”.
In relation to the case last November – when a sample of the consignment of processed animal proteins tested positive for prohibited material – DAFM worked with the importer, haulier and UK authorities to investigate the source of the contamination.
The farmer was informed immediately to cease feeding the product and the remaining product was sent for disposal under DAFM supervision.
The department also deemed the risk to public health as “negligible” after carrying out a risk assessment.
Meanwhile Miller told Agriland that it is currently “a very difficult time for tillage farmers with the weather and the price of grain dropping sharply since last harvest”.
The IGGG is one of a number of organisations that are expected to attend the first meeting of the Food Vision Tillage Group which is scheduled to take place next Thursday, May 11.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine set up the group in response to concerns that targets set in the Climate Action Plan to increase tillage to 400,000/ha by 2030 would not be met.
The IGGG has forecast that the area sown out in crops across Ireland will fall in 2023.