The consumer's entitlement to properly labelled bacon products is being flouted by many Irish supermarkets, according to the Irish Farmers' Association. It has identified 10 pre-packed bacon products purchased this week with labels "in breach of regulations on basic information to consumers".
The products - vacuum-packed rashers and cuts of bacon - in many cases did not indicate country of origin but also important details to guarantee trace-ability, said the IFA president, Mr Tom Parlon. He accused the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs of failing to respond adequately. EU law requires products to indicate country of origin "if its absence misleads to a material degree".
Mr Parlon said he was not on a crusade against imported bacon, though the Irish pig industry has seen a severe downturn in recent years. "The problem is widespread and examples of deficient labelling were found in almost every [supermarket] multiple outlet visited."
Irish pig producers were angered, he said, by a "widespread failure of bacon packers and secondary processors to supply basic information to the consumer, such as country of origin, net weight and list of ingredients". In some instances, the label implied a product was Irish but there was nothing to confirm this.
Last year, the IFA had expressed concerns about the lack of trace-ability. "It is unacceptable that no decisive action has been taken to ensure compliance," he said. Among the supermarkets where the IFA purchased the bacon products were Super Valu, Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Londis, Superquinn and Roches.
The IFA pigs committee chairman, Mr Liam Egan, said the ease with which items were purchased indicated little was being done to tackle the problem. The IFA believed a lot of it was from imported pig carcasses.
A spokesman for the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs said its inspectors had visited "a great many producers" and sought compliance. Spot checks would continue and measures pursued to ensure compliance. The "main national suppliers" were labelling as required but there was a multiplicity of smaller suppliers, some of whom were not, he added.
