Mislabelling of organic produce in Ireland

An Irish shop-owner has been convicted of mislabelling conventionally-produced chicken as organic. The retailer, trading as Organic Shop in Cork’s English Market, was fined € 2,000 plus costs after displaying non-organic chicken pieces under the sign “Organic Shop”. The owner stated that in the rare case he could not source an organic product; he would get a non-organic one.

The Department of Agriculture confirmed last year that the premises of the owner had been investigated for mislabelling on various occasions over the past three years, but no convictions had been made. In December 2005, four batches of poultry meat including duck, goose and turkey portions were seized at the owner's premises due to a lack of accurate labelling and therefore had no traceability. Two batches of poultry meat were seized during an inspection at the English Market. The department stated that the inspections had been a follow-up to inspections during the year and a series of non-compliances with labelling standards found last year.

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