September 6, 2012

 

 

In order to expose any misleading labelling of imported pig meat as Irish, a national DNA database profiling all the pigs in the country has been set up.

 

A team of 10 testers from the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) and Bord Bia will begin purchasing samples this week from supermarket shelves, butchers shops and restaurants.

 

A 'paternity test' will then be carried out against the database to confirm whether any meat labelled "Irish" was, in fact, reared in Ireland.

 

DNA testing firm IdentiGEN -- a Trinity College spin-off company -- confirmed this was the first time there has been a national identification of a livestock animal using DNA profiling.

 

IdentiGEN said the firm had received thousands of samples in total covering all breeding male pigs in the country to create a "boar database".

 

Ciaran Meghan from IdentiGEN said this was the first time all of the breeding stock have been profiled at a "national scale".

 

"The test that we are doing here is a paternity test so it is equivalent to the kind of forensic paternity tests that are used in child support," Meghan said.

 

The IFA has blamed "widespread mislabelling" as part of the problems hitting many of the country's 400 pig producers struggling in a loss making sector.

 

Tim Cullinan, the IFA's national pig's chairman, said "solid science" would be used and the programme would "effectively put an end to misleading labelling in the retail, processing and catering sectors".

 

A spokesman for supermarket chain Tesco said they would have "no issues" with the testing.

 

"All of our fresh pork is Irish and Bord Bia quality approved," he said.