Minister of State Pat the Cope Gallagher Opens Seminar on Managing Food Alerts and Recalls
17th October 2007
Speaking at the opening of a seminar on managing food alerts and recalls today (Wednesday, 17 October 2007), Minister of State with responsibility for Health Promotion and Food Safety, Pat the Cope Gallagher TD said ‘There are few things worse for the food industry than to have to recall their products in the full glare of the media and the unwanted associated public attention that goes with these events. It is at the time of such crises that advance planning is of major benefit and those companies which have crisis management plans in place will usually be able to limit reputation damage and economic loss.’
The Minister also referred to the importance of traceability, saying ‘the need for traceability in the food chain is something that is widely discussed in the media and in many different sectors of industry. In particular, traceability helps facilitate the withdrawal of food and enables consumers to be provided with targeted and accurate information concerning implicated products. Traceability does not itself make food safe. It is a risk management tool to be used in order to assist in containing a food safety problem.’
The Minister of State complemented the Food Safety Authority of Ireland for organising the seminar which aims to raise awareness among food businesses operators of their obligations to comply with the legal provisions of withdrawal and recall of unsafe food, to notify the competent authorities and, where necessary, the public, of such occurrences.
