Urgent need to isolate source of burger problem

While the cause of the problem remains a concern, food safety controls have proven to be of high quality

The Government needs to get all the facts out concerning the horse DNA crisis as quickly as possible, former minister for agriculture Alan Dukes has said.

“I’m still not sure it’s horse DNA or horse meat that was found in the burgers. There seems to be some confusion over that,” he said.

Dukes, a public affairs consultant with Wilson Hartnell PR, said the Government was responding to the scandal in a correct and appropriate manner by conducting an inquiry into the situation.

“They’ve taken precautionary steps by removing everything from the shelves until they can fully investigate the problem. That was the right thing to do.”

He said one of the positive things to come out of the horse DNA crisis was the high standards of food regulation in Ireland. The current incident came to light as a result of ongoing policing of food authenticity by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. “Our food safety controls are better than other European countries which is excellent.”

Full story

Pádraig Slattery, managing director of Slattery PR, echoed Dukes, saying the most important thing for Ireland from a public relations point of view was to make all the information surrounding the crisis available to the public.

He spoke of the need “to communicate quickly what the full story is, how they are going to deal with it and how they are going to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Equally as important though is to ensure they don’t over-react to the situation”.

He said any crisis-prevention steps taken must be sound, well thought out and based on facts.

“We have had other food crises down through the years from BSE to the pork dioxin scare and the long-term impact on Irish food has not been negative. Bord Bia and the Department of Agriculture have been very good at portraying Irish food as reliable and green.”

Slattery warned against concealing any information from the public, no matter how small, as it invariably always comes out and becomes a much bigger issue.

‘Honest and open’

“The Government and Government agencies need to be honest and open from the start. They only have one shot to get it right and get the truth out. You have to seem in charge from the start.”

He added that any inquiry and corrective measures taken had to be done as quickly as possible.

“Things need to be done fast in situations like this, a week or two at most. It can’t take months. As Anthony de Mello said, it’s not the issue but how he deals with the issue that defines the man and the same principle applies here.”

Unicorn PR managing director Valerie O’Reilly said there was now pressure on the Government to trace the source of the horse DNA to restore consumer confidence both at home and abroad.

“The problem has been detected and has received saturation coverage, some of it sensationalised. There is now an urgent need to identify and isolate the source of the problem.”

She warned it would be a mistake to underestimate the damage to the reputation of the food sector.

Quality produce

“The most recent example was the damage arising from the pig meal scare. All involved in the industry rallied together and were impressive in their efforts to restore the image of pork products.

“There is now need for a high-level, co-ordinated public relations and marketing strategy targeting consumers in Ireland and Europe with the emphasis on the strength of our clean, top-class, quality produce.”

As well as identifying the source of the problem, she said Ireland needed a public relations strategy which highlights the fact that Irish scientific food-testing standards are among the highest in the world, as this would help restore consumer confidence.

“We have a proven track record for the tracing of our consumable produce. Our agri-food sector has stringent quality standards,” she said.

‘A big deal’

Ireland has always had a love of everything equine which is one of the reasons this crisis is such a big deal to consumers, restaurateur Joe Macken said.

However, he warned that consumers should be more realistic when it comes to cheap food products.

“If you are buying a pack of burgers for under €2 in Tesco you have to question what you are buying. Irish beef is amazing quality and it is not that cheap.

“The same goes for some of the fast-food places on Grafton Street. You can buy a meal in them for €1. This doesn’t make sense.

“It’s really some sort of beef product. Consumers are lucky it only contained horse meat. That meat is lean. It could’ve been worse.”

The owner of Dublin’s Jo’Burger chain of restaurants denied the crisis was due to huge pressure to drive down prices in the recession.

“These cheap prices have been available in supermarkets for years.”

He said restoring confidence in supermarket-bought products was the most important job for the Government, as most people don’t eat out every night, they eat at home.