Conviction over mislabelling of “organic” produce
An Irish shopowner has been convicted of mislabelling conventionally-produced chicken as organic, sparking outrage from his fellow traders.
The retailer, trading as the Organic Shop in Cork’s English Market, was fined €2,000 plus €400 in costs after displaying non-organic chicken pieces under a sign saying ‘Organic Shop’.
Proprietor Marc O’Mahony said that in the exceptionally rare case he could not source an organic product, he would get a non-organic one.
A fellow market trader said: “Most of the stallholders in the market work very hard to achieve and hold a high level of trust between them and their customers. Marc O’Mahony has betrayed that trust and disgraced, not only himself, but the whole market.â€
The Department of Agriculture confirmed last year that Mr O’Mahony’s premises had been investigated for mislabelling on several occasions over the past three years, but that no convictions had been made.
On December 12, 2005, four batches of poultry meat, including duck, goose and turkey portions, were seized at Mr O’Mahony’s premises in Douglas mainly due to a lack of accurate labelling, and therefore having no traceability, and also due to the product being past its sell-by date. Two batches of poultry meat were seized during an inspection at the English Market.
“The inspections were a follow-up to inspections during the year and, in particular, a series of non-compliances with labelling standards found last year,†the department said at the time.
