A new report means the food industry has "no excuse for mischievous, misleading or illegal labelling", Dr Patrick Wall, chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, has said.
The FSAI yesterday published a comprehensive report on food labelling to help consumers "to make informed purchasing decisions based on accurate, clear, food labelling information", with 2,400 enforcement agents taking a "proactive stance" to ensure that food labels comply with regulations.
Dr Wall said the authority is undertaking an audit of the pork sector, where examples of incorrect labelling have been found. One such label claimed a product had been "locally sourced", but it turned out to have been bought from a local supplier, who had imported it from abroad, he said. Another read "sausages made from prime Irish pork", which turned out to have Irish and German ingredients.
He said an example of a misleading label would be "Irish smoked salmon" (meaning the smoke is Irish) instead of "smoked Irish salmon".
The report was produced in response to extensive queries from consumers and all sectors of the food industry. He stressed, however, that these were issues surrounding food labelling, not food safety.
Two main pieces of legislation, one national and one European, cover food labelling. The authority said the fundamental rule of labelling of foodstuffs is that consumers should not be misled. Ms Ruth Davis of the FSAI said there are legislative proposals at European level to also list on labels any ingredients which may cause an allergic reaction. Examples include nuts, shellfish, or milk, she said.
Labels must be in English and be clearly legible, and not obscured in any way.
The report is available on the authority's website, www.fsai.ie, from its offices on Lower Abbey Street, Dublin, or by phoning 1890 3366 77.