THE JAPANESE government praised the Irish Government for its handling of the discovery of dioxin in Irish pork products, Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith said yesterday.
Mr Smith met his Japanese counterpart, Shigeru Ishiba, yesterday and said the meeting had been very successful. He said opportunities existed to greatly expand Irish food produce to one of the world’s biggest markets.
“[Mr Ishiba] commended us very strongly on the action we took when we had the pork recall incident over dioxin. It was his view and that of his department that we acted very decisively and made the right decisions. We were transparent and open with the public,” Mr Smith told The Irish Times.
Irish pork produce makes up one-quarter of Irish exports to Japan. The overall value of exports bound for Japan is €90 million, of which pork products, mostly frozen, are worth more than €20 million.
He said that following the meeting, there were many opportunities for increasing agricultural trade between the two countries.
“Japan is only 40 per cent self-sufficient in food. It is a country that has a population of 128 million people. We believe there is a great potential to expand the market we have in pork products and in sea food and in dairy products,” Mr Smith said.
The possibility of the Japanese market being reopened for Irish beef was also raised during meetings the Minister held with the ministries of health and agriculture yesterday. Beef from all EU countries is excluded from the Japanese market because of the BSE outbreak of 2000.
Mr Smith said the incidence of BSE was very low in Ireland. In 2008, there were 24 cases in total, down from a high of 355.
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