August 18, 2020

Irish Farmers' Association surprised at proposed application concerning grass-fed beef

The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) is calling for a meeting with Ireland's Minister for Agriculture over what it claimed is a U-turn on the proposed Protected Geographical Indicator (PGI) status for Irish grass-fed beef.

IFA president Tim Cullinan said that he was astounded to see the detail of Bord Bia's (the Irish state agency that promotes sales of Irish food and horticulture both abroad and in Ireland) proposed application for PGI status for Irish grass-fed beef.

"Bord Bia have gone back on their commitments to treat all animals the same under the standard by unilaterally excluding all young bulls and apparently removing latitude for animals to be indoors for longer in certain circumstances," he said.

"This may well arise in parts of the country where animals have to be housed earlier due to weather conditions.

"They have introduced, completely out of the blue, a new transport aspect which would appear to suggest that animals cannot go to a factory more than two hours away and that they must be transported by a licensed haulier.

"The animal's meat now has to be a certain colour before it can be called 'grass-fed' and this will be determined by the meat factory.

"When this PGI was discussed at the recent Beef Taskforce it was clear that it needed a lot more discussion.

"The only party that was completely in favour of it was Meat Industry Ireland (MII)."

Cullinan said the detail behind the proposal had been driven by MII and the factories. "It is giving them even more power over farmers," he said.

The application for PGI status for Irish grass-fed beef was submitted by the Department of Agriculture last week. It specifies that for 'Irish grass-fed beef' to apply to cattle, the animals must derive at least 90% of their feed intake from grass, as determined by the Bord Bia Grass-fed Beef Standard, and spend a minimum of 220 days per year throughout their lifetime grazing pasture.

Crucially, only carcases and cuts from certain higher-grade beef animals are eligible to be classified as 'Irish Grass-fed Beef'. Eligible stock include steers and heifers aged up to 36 months with conformation better than O- and fat score between 2+ and 4+.

In addition, beef cows of up to 120 months with conformation better than O+ and with fat score between 2+ and 5 will qualify.

A spokesperson for Bord Bia said the PGI status will recognise that meat quality is different from grass-fed beef to non-grass-fed beef.

"It is an assurance the meat will be of a particular quality when it comes to properties such as flavour and fat content. The big distinction here is that it is grass-fed and the amount of grass it has eaten in its lifetime."

Regarding cows, Bord Bia said it would be mainly suckler cows not dairy cows that will qualify. It also claimed that PGI status is internationally recognised and carries a price premium.

"We are trying to command a premium for Irish beef and build on its existing strong credentials."

However, Bord Bia confirmed to the Farming Independent that it does not have any research that shows European consumers will pay a premium for Irish grass-fed beef.

- Farming Independent