Despite shortages of certain meat products on its Irish shelves due to the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, British retailer Marks & Spencer yesterday strongly defended the level of meat products which it purchases from Irish suppliers.
This followed criticism from the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) yesterday, which said the company should be doing more to ensure it sources its meat from Ireland.
A spokeswoman for the British retail chain said it was experiencing "gaps" in the supply of some products, mainly involving cooked or prepared meat.
However, she said it sources all of its fresh beef from Irish suppliers throughout the year, and 100 per cent of its lamb from Ireland when in season.
Numerous shelves in Marks & Spencer's Grafton Street store were empty at lunchtime yesterday, with blinds pulled down where meat products would usually be displayed.
A notice informed customers that there were restrictions on some foods and products and that the company was experiencing "shortages on some of our products".
The spokeswoman said it was her understanding, however, that fresh meat products were "still reasonably well stocked" in the retailer's Irish stores.
She added the company was working hard with its Irish suppliers to ensure products were continuing to be supplied.
Gabriel Gilmartin, deputy sheep chairman with the ICSA, said it was essential that supermarkets buy locally if we want to "keep Ireland farming".
He said this applied to all meat products, not just those involving fresh meat.
"For food security alone, every lamb, every bullock that goes to slaughter and ends up on the shelf can be traced back to the day of slaughter. We can't say that about New Zealand lamb or Brazilian beef," he said.
"If our money is good enough for them, and Irish customers are buying their products, they have to buy local and buy Irish."
Meanwhile, Meat Industry Ireland (MII), which represents the beef and lamb processing industry, said it had been "business as usual" here despite the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Britain.