A farm organisation is calling for “full disclosure” on the level of co-operation among different stakeholders on the Beef Market Taskforce.
The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) was referring specifically to the latest report by professional services firm Grant Thornton on ‘Price Composition of the Total Value of the Animal along the Supply Chain’.
According to ICSA beef chairperson Edmund Graham, a lack of co-operation with Grant Thornton and the report process was “undermining the taskforce”.
He argued that a sectoral regulator was the “only solution” to this apparent lack of progress.
“The obvious conclusion is that we need to establish a regulator rather than just a food ombudsman, with the power to compel all actors along the food chain to co-operate and bring much needed transparency into who gets what from beef,” Graham commented.
Graham called the report “an exercise in futility” due to the apparent lack of co-operation from some stakeholders.
“The report was looking for where the margins lie along the food supply chain, but it appears that those beyond the primary producer mark want to keep those margins hidden,” the ICSA beef chair said.
“We now want full disclosure of who has not co-operated with the Grant Thornton report… These are all stakeholders who gave a commitment to work with the Beef Taskforce, and their failure to do so at this juncture is a disgrace.”
Graham also took the opportunity to reiterate a call for the management of individual meat processors to be called before the taskforce.
“The reality is we need factories to answer for themselves, not hide behind Meat Industry Ireland (MII). We need the processors there and we need the retailers there because without them we are going around in circles,” he argued.
Aldi concerns over taskforce
Graham’s comments come after Aldi wrote to the taskforce chairperson Michael Dowling expressing similar concerns over the Grant Thornton report, namely in relation to a lack of engagement by other stakeholders.
John Curtin, Aldi’s group buying director, said in a statement this afternoon (Tuesday, May 18): “Aldi has provided 100% of the information, including commercials, requested by the independent auditors, Grant Thornton, to conduct its review of market and consumer requirements.”
However, the retailer suggested that other stakeholders were not as forthcoming.
“We now understand that a number of our competitors did not engage and this will have a detrimental impact on the quality of the report and also the work of the taskforce,” Aldi said in the letter to Dowling.