Clarity needed on ‘grass fed beef’ PGI

Last week saw the agreement of stakeholders in Dublin at the Beef Taskforce to pave the way for the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine to complete the process for submitting the PGI application to the European Commission. McConalogue confirmed that Northern Ireland would be supported for inclusion within the PGI, once clarification was received, regarding the verification systems being in place in the province.

Stevenson confirmed that LMC will play a central role in working with stakeholders to get these verification procedures in place, adding: “But this is only part of the story. We now need to get a clear signal from the Competent Authorities and Brussels, confirming the over-arching principle that Northern Ireland can readily join the Irish Grass Fed PGI without regulatory or legal barriers if the application goes in for registration without NI inclusion at the outset. This matter will be followed-up as a matter of priority.”

Stevenson believes that Northern Ireland’s beef sector can readily confirm its technical eligibility for the new PGI. He said: “Making best use of grass goes to the very heart of beef production here. What’s more, this reliance is likely to increase further during the period ahead. Northern Ireland has a strong heritage of marketing its beef with a very strong, grass-based focus.

“LMC has owned, on behalf of the Northern Ireland beef and sheep industry, the community trademark for Greenfields for many years and the Irish Grass Fed origin of the product on sale throughout the Benelux Countries under this brand has long been served by supply chains with beef from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

“We also have many processing businesses operating in NI who for many years have marketed our beef to customers as Irish Grass Fed Beef and it is imperative that any registration of the name Irish Grass Fed Beef as a PGI must not lead to the exclusion of our locally produced beef which can readily meet the same specification and description.

“The applicant group and responsible department in the Republic of Ireland are both fully aware of NI’s legitimate interest in the application for registration of a PGI for Irish Grass Fed Beef and we look forward to further constructive engagement with industry and officials on both sides of the border as the very sound case to register a PGI for Irish Grass Fed Beef is developed.

“Whilst the PGI may not be a prominent feature for sales into the rest of the UK it would be useful in helping to underpin sales of locally produced beef in export markets within the EU and in international markets such as China and the United States and other countries .”