Mayo TD highlights 'misleading labelling' in supermarkets
Criticism by local Aontú TD Paul Lawless of the labelling practices of Irish-based retailers echoes long held Green Party policy on Irish horticultural production.
Criticism by local Aontú TD Paul Lawless of the labelling practices of Irish-based retailers echoes long held Green Party policy on Irish horticultural production.
Speaking at the Oireachtas Agricultural Committee, Deputy Lawless raised several examples of vegetables which are ostensibly sold as Irish-produced but are in fact imported from Spain and other countries.
The Knock-based representative underlined several points made over recent decades by the Green Party over the diminishment of Irish horticulture and an over-reliance on imported fruit and vegetables.
Deputy Lawless highlighted the misleading labelling of vegetable products like broccoli, sold in Irish supermarkets “out of season” in packaging which appeared to suggest it is an Irish product when in fact it’s imported from southern Spain where much of northern Europe’s vegetables are sourced in winter. Such marketing methods are misleading, said Lawless, who had much criticism for Bord Bia for failing to protect and promote Irish producers.
The website of the Green Party currently states: “Our current system is over-reliant on dairy and meat. We are mass producing a handful of foodstuffs for export and importing most of the food we actually eat. The pricing structure favours large-scale retailers and not the producers. We can change this. We can protect the planet for the future at the same time as we safeguard farming livelihoods.”
