Bairbre de Brún to travel with delegation of MEPs to Co. Meath to discuss Animal Health and Food Safety issues

14 October, 2005

Bairbre de Brún MEP

Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre de Brún will travel to Grange, Co Meath this coming Monday (17.10.05) as part of a delegation of MEPs from Ireland, Britain, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Slovakia for a visit to the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO). The FVO is a European Commission service.

Ms de Brún will travel as part of an official EU delegation from the European Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee.

Speaking prior to the visit Ms de Brún said:

“Monday’s visit to the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) in Co Meath is an important opportunity to discuss issues of concern and interest surrounding the role of the FVO and a number of animal health and food safety issues, including the question of controls and border controls for imported foodstuffs, as well as public health issues such as avian
influenza.

“Given the seriousness of the recent bird flu outbreak in Turkey, this issue is bound to be high on the agenda.” ENDS

Note to Editors:
The Food and Veterinary Office

The European Commission is responsible for ensuring that Community legislation on food safety, animal health, plant health and animal welfare is properly implemented and enforced. As a Commission service, the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) plays an important role in fulfilling this task. The FVO works to assure effective control systems and to evaluate compliance with EU standards within the EU, and in third countries in
relation to their exports to the EU. The FVO does this mainly by carrying out inspections in Member States and in third countries exporting to the EU. The FVO is part of the Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection and it is based in Grange, Co. Meath, Ireland. The number of staff working in the FVO has increased from 74 in 1997 to its present complement of 163. Of these, 81 are inspectors, who participate regularly
in on-the-spot inspection missions, with the balance consisting of management and support staff.