Bord Bia has confirmed that “monitoring sanctions” were applied in the case of a company that incorrectly labelled French potatoes with a Bord Bia quality logo that can only be used on potatoes grown in Ireland.
Senator Victor Boyhan had asked Bord Bia to update the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine on the status of Bord Bia’s investigation into incorrectly labelled French potatoes with its quality assured mark earlier this year.
Bord Bia’s chief executive Jim O’Toole told the joint committee that an investigation by Bord Bia’s certification committee into the labelling issue had concluded and that sanctions had been applied to the company involved.
The name of the company at the centre of the incorrect labelling issue was not disclosed at the meeting of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
O’Toole said: “There is scope to apply a financial penalty for misuse of the logo. All of those options were considered by the committee and applied as appropriate.
“I do not think it is correct to go into any further detail insofar as we would not go into detail on any individual farmer who would not pass an audit.”
However, Co. Dublin-based Keogh’s Farm had previously confirmed that the Bord Bia Quality Assured mark had been on the packaging of a small batch of potatoes, that originated in France, that it had dispatched to some retailers.
The company had stressed that it was not its intention to mislead consumers in any capacity and that it had notified Bord Bia.
According to O’Toole, the food board’s investigation found “absolutely no question of any fraudulent activity” in relation to the labeling and said it had occurred because of an “operational error in the plant in question and that was rectified”.
But Senator Boyhan pressed Bord Bia’s chief executive on what he described as “a serious breach” in relation to the incorrect labelling of French potatoes with the Bord Bia quality mark and stated:
“When you have serious breaches like that it has an impact on the Bord Bia brand, it has an impact on you because people buy Bord Bia products, they look for the brand but the brand is only as good as its integrity and how you stand over it.”
O’Toole said the food board took the integrity of their brand “very seriously”.
He also told the joint committee that specifically in relation to the product that was mislabelled with the Bord Bia quality mark that it had only been on the shelves for “a very short time” and that the product had been “withdrawn immediately”.
“We are fully satisfied that the issues that arose in that situation have been rectified. The quality management system in the member plant has been demonstrated to be effective so that does not happen again,” O’Toole stated.