Pity that Agriculture Minister won’t take opportunity to champion Northern Ireland Beef, says Armstrong
UUP MLA for Mid-Ulster and farmer Billy Armstrong today took the Agriculture Minister to task for refusing to champion Northern Ireland Beef during Minister’s Question Time in the Assembly today,
In a statement Mr. Armstrong said,
“In her statement today in the recent Foot and Mouth outbreak, Minister Gildernew disappointingly decided not to take the opportunity to act as a champion of Northern Ireland beef. Northern Ireland’s farmers and consumers are confronted by the reality of cheap, inferior Brazilian beef imports. I raised this matter with the Minister in early August and was hoping she would in today’s statement become a persuader on behalf of Northern Ireland beef. It was disappointing too that even today in her speech she could not bring herself to refer to Northern Ireland, instead using ‘the North’.
Everyone is fully aware that the Northern Ireland Assembly cannot legislate to prevent the importing of Brazilian beef. However, the Minister could and should use her position to encourage supermarkets to offer consumers quality beef, guaranteed by the highest food traceability, environmental protections and animal welfare standards.
As the recent Ulster Farmers Union – Irish Farmers Association joint statement made clear, our hard-earned and closely protected FMD-free status is threatened by Brazilian beef imports. FMD is endemic in Brazil and traceability standards are, to say the least, incredibly poor. Boasting about our bio-security standards while failing to challenge supermarkets who import Brazilian beef is nonsensical.
I fully support the call by Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson for an EU-wide ban on Brazilian beef imports. Europe’s consumers deserve nothing less than quality beef”.”