British Conservative Move Welcomed by MEP

The call by Nick Herbert, British Conservative party spokesman on Food & Rural Affairs, for compulsory labelling of meat products has been strongly supported by Independent MEP Marian Harkin.

Later this week, Deputy Harkin intends to raise the issue in the European Parliament when she will insist that accurate labelling is in the interest of consumers while presenting no barrier to their right to choose.

“It cannot be right that meat products from other countries can be labelled as Irish and have no requirement to indicate their actual country of origin”, she said.

She continued: “It is encouraging that the British Conservative Party is now supporting the stance of the UK Environment Secretary Hilary Benn and calling for Country of Origin labelling.    I am now calling on our Agriculture Minister Mr. Brendan Smith to join with his British counterparts and put on the pressure to get the necessary changes to EU legislation that will identify for consumers exactly where the meat they are eating was born and reared.  This will make a very significant difference to our pig and poultry industries in particular” Marian Harkin MEP concluded.