Irish beef needs a Kerrygold style labelling system

A FORMER Minister and General Election candidate in Roscommon-Galway has called on Bord Bia to come up with a distinctive brand for grass-fed Irish beef . . . similar to the Kerrygold label for butter and dairy products.

Independent TD, Denis Naughten, said that a quality and easily identifiable brand could attract premium prices on key overseas markets.

“Our Irish suckler beef is being sold as minced meat rather than maximising the price for premium cuts like fillet steak.

“And in reality, the situation is even worse than that, because Irish processors are directly competing against each other undercutting their price, which ultimately is impacting on Irish farmers’ pockets,” said Deputy Naughten.

He said that with the current system, farmers would never get a premium price for Irish beef, based on the current model which is putting all the power in the hands of the processors to return fair prices to Irish farmers.

“We need a distinctive Irish brand, just like Kerrygold, for our grass fed suckler beef, to secure a premium price and pass that directly back to farmers.

“It should be the responsibility of Bord Bia to drive that forward with producers across the country. It is important that we point out to British consumers that 70% of the deforestation of the Amazon – the lungs of our planet – is to provide land for cattle ranches.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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