Statement – ABP Food Group 15 03 13

ABP Food Group response to the Statement and Report by the Minister for Agriculture, Marine and Food on the Equine DNA & Mislabelling of Processed Beef Investigation “ABP Food Group is bitterly disappointed by Minister Coveney’s statement to Dáil Eireann yesterday (14th March 2013) and certain references to the company in the report published by […]

ABP Food Group response to the Statement and Report by the Minister for Agriculture, Marine and Food on the Equine DNA & Mislabelling of Processed Beef Investigation

“ABP Food Group is bitterly disappointed by Minister Coveney’s statement to Dáil Eireann yesterday (14th March 2013) and certain references to the company in the report published by him. The business has been at the forefront of the successful development of Ireland’s agri-food exports over many years. It operates Europe-wide servicing the most demanding of customers. Irish chilled beef sales, which account for 95% of its and the sector’s business, have not been affected by this situation. Furthermore, market prices for Irish cattle are at an historic high, reflecting strong market demand for the product we sell internationally. ABP Food Group operates to the very highest standards of management and governance, but the controls in the case of Silvercrest let the company down. The company has already apologised to its customers and stakeholders for these shortcomings. It has also been a victim of the wide-scale European equine fraud and the cost of this, and the specification breach, has been considerable. But the company has acted since the emergence of this issue in an entirely appropriate fashion, having co-operated fully with the Minister’s Department; implemented the voluntary withdrawal of 10 million burgers from the market; suspended production at Silvercrest; as well as the other operational changes the company has already outlined. In particular, at an early point the Group disbanded the frozen division that Silvercrest reported into. The company does welcome the acknowledgement in the report that its plant at Nenagh, as the company maintained from the outset, was not the source of the meat containing equine DNA in a bolognese product sold in the UK. ABP Food Group also finds yesterday’s report regarding another Irish food company extraordinary. It is remarkable that another food operator was aware of equine contamination in the beef supply chain for many months without making the authorities or the industry aware. Had the authorities been aware the issue could have been managed very differently and the risk to the Irish agri-food sector significantly reduced.” (Ends) Issued on behalf of ABP Food Group by Heneghan PR Contact: Nigel Heneghan Tel: (086) 258 7206