mr president i do not think anyone in this house will argue with the fact that consumers want and need safe traceable and wholesome food and no one can argue that there is not a need for accurate and honest labelling of food
however we must be careful not to create information overload in any labelling system
too much unintelligible information will lead to consumers ignoring the essential information and paying attention to information which has no real value
therefore simplicity and valuable information should be the key criteria in a labelling system
i like my colleagues support country of origin labelling
i do believe that it is important that we know where our food comes from
the farming and fishing industries and communities which are represented in this house produce food under very stringent regulation yet for example sixty of the fish we eat is imported into the eu and in most cases not reared under the same strict environmental and regulatory regimes
we need to ensure that our systems create level playing fields for our communities and our industries
in northern ireland the agri-food industry is hugely important and again i would appeal for us not to penalise the industry with unnecessary bureaucracy and red tape
