Shops, hotels and meat suppliers named by the IFA as offering foreign beef as Irish strongly rejected the farmer group's accusations yesterday. Conor Lally and Olivia Kelly report.
The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) also criticised the IFA, accusing it of conducting a "flawed" investigation into the origin of beef being sold at some Irish hotels.
The IHF chief executive, Mr John Power, said he had spoken to the six hotels surveyed by the IFA, and had been assured by all that the beef for sale on their premises had been purchased as Irish.
He added the hoteliers had not been informed their food was being tested by the IFA, and were not given the opportunity to have samples independently verified.
"It is unacceptable for an organisation to conduct such a clandestine investigation without involving the hotels in question."
The unscientific nature of the IFA survey had made a mockery of the procedures used by the Food Safety Authority and other bodies in their "fully audited and controlled work".
Mr Larry Goodman's Anglo Irish Beef Processors, which was not named in the IFA survey, last night issued a statement stating the company does not import any beef into the Republic "from South America or elsewhere".
"All of the beef produced and sold in Ireland by AIBP is sourced from farmers in the Republic and processed through the company's six meat-processing plants.
"AIBP pioneered the introduction of 100 per cent tracing of beef through DNA testing. The company actively encourages its customers to avail of this option."
The Irish Times contacted the companies accused by the IFA of selling overseas beef as Irish (their names are not being published on legal advice).
One hotelier named said: "All of our suppliers are carefully vetted to ensure that they comply with the highest quality and hygiene standards. We can categorically state that we have never labelled anything as Irish when it was not Irish."
Another hotel spokeswoman said: "We're very upset about this and we'll be seeing our solicitor in the morning to discuss the accusations made by the IFA.
"The IFA never got in touch with us themselves. We don't know how they've come to make these claims, but they are quite welcome to come into our hotel and into our kitchen; we have nothing to hide."
She said the hotel first heard of the accusation on the radio. She had contacted the hotel's supplier but added: "I was confirming what I already knew. We use local suppliers, the meat has Irish certificates, it comes marked as Irish in Irish boxes. I am confident that we have not served non-Irish beef."
Another meat company yesterday wrote to a hotelier it supplied in order to provide a reassurance that the beef and lamb products it supplied were of Irish origin.
One meat supplier, accused of supplying non-Irish beef to a supermarket, said: "To the best of our knowledge and belief we can confirm with confidence that all products supplied have been reared, slaughtered and packed in Ireland. We have proof of traceability for all out products."
Two meat suppliers who were named said they sold Brazilian beef which was labelled as Brazilian beef, and never as Irish.
One said the IFA had been "economical with the truth" when presenting its findings.
The other said: "At the moment we are trying to find out more information on this survey. But I don't know where the information is coming from."
Another hotelier said the hotel had taken a decision three months ago to sell only Irish beef. "We are shocked by this. We have certificates from all of our suppliers showing that we are selling Irish beef."
One meat company director said he was "very annoyed" his firm's name had been attached to the "IFA list" despite the fact it was guilty of no wrong-doing. "They test 15 firms, three are OK, but they don't say who the three are. We sell Brazilian beef, it is clearly labelled and the IFA found that. But yet they still put us on a list and tar us with the same brush as everyone else."