TODAY, many people across the country will be sitting down to their usual roast chicken Sunday dinner. Some will go to a restaurant for a sirloin steak, while others will kick off their morning with a full Irish breakfast.

But is the food involved really Irish?

Every day, Irish consumers are buying meat that they believe to be from this country. Whether it's in the supermarket, a restaurant, hotel, or even the canteen in work, most people assume that what they are eating grew up on a farm here and ended its life here.

After all, Ireland produces five times more beef annually than we, as a nation, can consume, so there shouldn't really be any need for beef imports. And with avian influenza drawing ever closer, there has never been a greater desire among shoppers for Irish-sourced poultry.

But every day, consumers are being duped. Through loopholes in legislation, selective wording on produce and outright flouting of the law, Irish people are eating meat and poultry that can be anything from Iranian to Nicaraguan to Thai, but often not Irish. And until the legislation in this area is both changed and enforced, this practice is going to continue.

Under current EU legislation, meat can be imported to Ireland from any country and, once it has been processed, can be labelled as Irish. This process, known as 'substantial transformation', can be as slight as adding breadcrumbs to a chicken fillet or cutting up a rack of lamb and adding seasoning.

"The Irish government doesn't make the laws on food regulation. That is all done by the EU, " said Ray Ellard, director of audit and compliance with the Food Safety Authority Ireland (FSAI).

"And as the law stands, you should not mislead the customer on where the meat has come from. How this is interpreted is a different matter, because when it comes to processed meats, who should decide whether a chicken kiev, made up of Thai chicken and Irish ingredients, is Irish or Thai? That is a debate that is ongoing."

This loophole in the legislation effectively means that food producers can make slight changes to imported meat and label it as 'Irish'. Meat from Northern Ireland can be legitimately labelled 'Irish', and foreign meat may be labelled as 'produced in Ireland', 'processed in Ireland' or even 'sourced and produced in Ireland' without the law being infringed.

"Theoretically, meat can be imported from Japan and stored in a warehouse.

When the retailer comes to source this meat, they can say that they sourced it in Ireland, but the meat isn't Irish, " said Ellard. "This is where inspections come into force."

In 2005, the FSAI carried out an audit on 90 food outlets to determine whether operators were adequately labelling and describing their products correctly. It found that 42% of premises visited did not comply with labelling regulations. Beef that originated in South America was labelled as 'Irish', while chicken crowns from Belgium were skinned and cut into fillets before being labelled as 'produced in Ireland'. Other imported chicken was named after a well-known Irish region, in an attempt to convince consumers it was Irish.

The report was never published because the number of outlets inspected was considered too low to give an overall picture, but the discoveries made constitute a mere fraction of the problem.

Where's the beef Meanwhile, for several years, the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO), an EU body responsible for food safety, has been expressing concerns about aspects of Brazilian beef farming.

In many parts of that country, there is a distinct lack of animal traceability and inadequate food-safety controls.

Although foot and mouth disease has been prevalent in many parts of the country, there is often freedom of movement between regions.

In 2005, 8,759 tonnes of Brazilian beef were imported directly to Ireland. But this is just a small part of what is really entering the country.

"Huge amounts of beef are coming into this country through the EU, mainly Amsterdam, " said John Bryan of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA). "It's then being recycled as being European or even Irish. The EU demands rigorous standards from European meat, as it should.

But then it allows in a second raft of meat from non-EU countries where there is a lack of traceability and no central databases. It's a ridiculous situation."

The same is happening with poultry.

In 2005, 2,419 tonnes of poultry were imported to Ireland from Thailand, which had a severe outbreak of bird flu.

Some 1,732 tonnes were imported from Brazil, while 215 tonnes were sourced in Nicaragua. Some 317 tonnes of 'pigmeat' were imported from Chile, while two tonnes were brought in from Iran.

If these meats are processed in any way, they can legitimately be labelled as 'processed in Ireland'. And meat imported from anywhere in the EU, especially the UK, may well be from another country entirely, but Irish consumers will never know.

Tesco Ireland says it sources the vast majority of its meat for processed foods in the EU and a smaller amount "worldwide". Tesco UK, which exports a lot of its products to Ireland, is linked with CP Foods in Thailand and sources a lot of its chicken for processed meals in that country. The packets simply say 'produced in the UK'. "All our suppliers are accredited according to international standards, " a spokesman for Tesco Ireland said.

A recent Bord Bia survey found that half of all Irish consumers appreciate the importance of buying local produce, as opposed to one in three Britons.

"The main thing consumers need to look for is the voluntary quality assurance mark, " said Teresa Brophy, Ireland marketing manager with Bord Bia."When that sign is present, they can be assured that the meat has been reared in Ireland, can be traced back to the farm and is of the highest quality. We have found that Irish people have become a lot more conscious of where their food is coming from in the past few years and they really need to be informed of the traceability of the meat they are purchasing."

But until action is taken on legislation, this desire continues to remain unfulfilled.

RESTAURANTS COMPLICIT IN LABELLING LIES

IN restaurants and other eateries, customers can end up eating meat or poultry from just about anywhere without realising. Since July 2005, all restaurants, canteens and catering outlets in Ireland are obliged to display exactly where their meat has been sourced, but to date, compliance with the law has been incredibly low. Only restaurants with the 'FAcopyrightile Bia' logo from Bord Bia can assure customers they stock only Irish meat.

"When has anyone ever gone into a restaurant that says 'our beef is from Brazil' or 'we supply Thai chicken'?" asked the IFA's John Bryan. "But the fact is, many restaurants and canteens are supplying exactly that and getting away with it without informing the customer."

Other establishments are going so far as to claim the beef they are serving is Angus or their lamb is prime Irish, when in reality, this couldn't be further from the truth.

"It's a big problem and consumers are not aware that when they buy their meat, it could be from a non-EU country, " said Mary Upton, Labour spokeswoman on agriculture and food. "The meat may well be fine, but consumers have the right to know exactly what they are buying. Restaurant compliance with the displaying of meat sources leaves a lot to be desired, and there has to be more enforcement in this area."

WHY FOOD FIRMS CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF LAW

FSAI guidelines say that "on the label, an indication of the place of origin or provenance of the foodstuff is required only where its absence might mislead the consumer to a material degree as to the origin or provenance of the foodstuff".

According to the Department of Agriculture and Food, 'substantial transformation' describes the origin of products as: "the country where they underwent their last substantial economically justified processing, or working in an undertaking equipped for that purpose and resulting in the manufacture of a new product or representing an important stage of manufacture".

"This might give rise to unscrupulous traders misleading people as to the origin of products, " said an department spokeswoman. "Nevertheless, it is still not appropriate for the proper conduct of business to do this.

"We have brought this loophole to the attention of the EU Commission in the context of a review of labelling legislation they are conducting. We are pressing for them to close the loophole. The minister has also raised the issue at Council and has pressed for country of origin labelling, particularly for meat."

Isabel Hayes