Minister Coffey welcomes introduction of new rules on country of origin labeling of meats

Fine Gael Waterford Minister Paudie Coffey welcomes Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney TD’s signing into law new rules to provide for country of origin labeling on packaged meat products. The rules will cover poultry, pigmeat, sheepmeat and goatmeat and will add to the existing rules in place for beef.

The regulation introduces requirements on food business operators including processors, retailers and butcher shops to ensure that country of origin labeling information is available to their customers who purchase packaged meat products.

Minister Coffey said:

“This regulation is a welcome step for producers and consumers as it will ensure that labeling is clearer. Of course this was a very successful policy for beef products however it is good to see it being expanded to include other meat and poultry products as it will give confidence to consumers.”

“As we know there has been a considerable amount of concern about labeling and these new regulations are a welcome measure as they will allow consumers to easily identify where a product comes from. We are constantly encouraging consumers to ‘buy Irish’, now it is much easier to do so.”

—ENDS—