Allegations that some Irish potato merchants are importing oversized seed potatoes and then washing and bagging them and selling them as Irish produce were made yesterday at the National Potato Conference in Co Kildare.
The importation of seed potatoes, known in the trade as tops, was disrupting the trade, said Mr Malachy Mitchell, national potato co-ordinator of the Irish Farmers' Association. The imports were mainly from Scotland and some importers were buying "whole" crops which included potatoes not suitable for planting as seed.
"They take their seed potatoes from the imports but the oversized ones are being passed on the markets as Irish-produced and this is a breach of regulations," he said.
"While the rejected seed potatoes can be eaten and can be good quality, it is cheating the customer to pass them off as home-produced." He said potato-growers were aware of what was happening and were monitoring the situation.
"In fairness to the supermarkets and the retail trade generally, they don't know what is being done and have given the growers assurances that they would not condone such behaviour," he said.
Mr Tom Maher, national potato specialist adviser with Teagasc, said our entire national requirement of frozen chips was being imported.
He said the importation of frozen chips, and potatoes for fresh chips, amounted to €35 million annually. The recent closure of Donegal Foods in Letterkenny had prompted the rise in imports.
"Total imports of frozen chips are now valued at €25 million per annum and a further €10 million worth of the variety Maris Piper are imported for the production of Irish chips and this represents a significant lost opportunity to Irish growers and the economy."
IFA president Mr John Dillon called for action to halt the decline in the number of growers here, which had fallen by more than 600 in the last five or six years.