Horse meat found in County Monaghan meat plant
A second Irish meat processing plant has tested positive for traces of horse meat.
The Department of Agriculture confirmed damaging findings of 75% equine DNA in raw ingredient at Rangeland Foods in Co Monaghan.
Just days after the ABP Food Group lost an estimated €45 million in contracts over the deepening scandal, gardaí have been called in to aid inquiries.
A special investigation unit from the department has been tasked to get to the bottom of the controversy.
In a statement the department said production has been suspended at Rangeland, a frozen burger supplier established in 1892 with a turnover of €18m and about 80 staff.
“The company has indicated that none of this product has entered the food chain,” the department said.
Inquiries into whether Polish labelled products have been used in other meat processing plants are ongoing.
Rangeland called in authorities last Thursday amid suspicions that Polish sourced meat may contain horse.
An Irish-based trader had imported the meat, the department said.
“The investigation is focusing on the full supply chain including the meat trader concerned and others who facilitated the purchase of the product and its transfer to users in Ireland,” the department said.
The Rangeland results were released on the eve of a briefing Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney is to give politicians at a parliamentary committee on the wider horse meat controversy.
The meeting was arranged after the Silvercrest processing plant in Monaghan, part of the ABP group, was found to have supplied products contaminated with horse.
Authorities have been liaising with Polish officials over the source of the contamination.
“The investigation has shown that all implicated raw material ingredient is labelled as Polish product,” the department said.
Aside from reputational damage to the country’s €10 billion agri-food industry, the ABP Food Group, owned by Larry Goodman, has lost contracts with Tesco, Aldi, the Co-Operative Group and Burger King over the fiasco.
Mr Coveney will join Professor Alan Reilly, whose research at the Food Safety Authority first exposed the contamination of processed beef burgers.
Controversy and concerns about traceability of food widened at the weekend when a company which supplied halal food found to contain traces of pork DNA was named by food distributor 3663 as McColgan Quality Foods Limited, a Tyronne-based company.
20 Irish people jailed daily for opting not to pay fines
Cash strapped Irish workers are opting for a stint in prison rather than paying up fines, a leading charity has said. St Vincent de Paul was reacting to new figures that reveal that some 20 people are being jailed every day for the non-payment of fines.
Charity workers have been told by some hard-pressed citizens that they are accepting time in prison because they cannot afford to settle the fine.
The news comes as the Department of Justice has confirmed that almost 7,500 individuals were imprisoned for the non payment of fines offence in 2012 — the highest number in years.
This is despite a raft of previous government commitments to end the practice of jailing people for defaulting on court-imposed fines.
According to the figures, 7,467 people were jailed last year “solely for non-payment of fines”.
This represents an increase of 740 committals on 2011 when 6,727 individuals were jailed.
And the 2012 figure shows that there has been a 70pc increase in the overall number being jailed for this offence since 2009.
The St Vincent de Paul Charity has dealt with people who have opted to accept a jail sentence as they did not have the means to pay the fine in question.
Pressure
“The increase in numbers being imprisoned for non-payment of fines would appear to be a direct consequence of the increasing financial pressure which is being witnessed by SVP volunteers visiting homes throughout the country,” a spokesman said.
“Those who are struggling are constantly having to make choices about what are their most urgent bills to pay.
“It is not just those on low pay or dependent on social welfare payments who seek the support of SVP. Increasingly they include middle-income families and those formerly self-employed whose businesses have all but vanished.”
The figures, obtained by Labour TD Patrick Nulty, mean that an average of 20 people are being sent to prison every day for failing or refusing to pay fines.
Deputy Nulty described the figure as “absolutely outrageous”, adding that there is a range of other options that should be availed off by the justice system.
“It’s totally inappropriate for people — who are struggling immensely — to be sent to prison and forced to share a facility that also houses people involved in serious crime,” he told the Herald.
New measures aimed at making it easier for people to deal with fines were published by the Justice Minister last year.
The measures are designed to allow people to pay fines over a 12-month period and will also enable employers to deduct theamount from wages.
Malala Yousufzaito vows to continue fight to get better education for all Children
The Pakistani schoolgirl with her father above right who survived assassination by the Taliban has said she is “getting better day by day”.
Malala Yousufzai, 15, underwent successful surgery on her skull and ear at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham at the weekend.
She escaped death by a matter of inches when she was shot on October 9 last year – as the bullet entered just above her left eye and ran along her jaw, “grazing” her brain.
In a message recorded in the days before her latest operation, she spoke of her hopes for the future and the work she intends to undertake through a charitable fund which has been created and which bears her name – the Malala Fund.
She said: “Today you can see that I am alive. I can speak, I can see you, I can see everyone and I am getting better day by day.
“It’s just because of the prayers of people. Because all people – men, women, children – all of them have prayed for me.
“And because of all these prayers, God has given me this new life, a second life. And I want to serve. I want to serve the people. I want every girl, every child, to be educated. For that reason, we have organised the Malala Fund.”
The Malala Fund supports her campaign for the right to education for children across the world.
Malala’s British doctors have been delighted with her continuing recovery. When she was shot last October, surgeons in Pakistan removed the bullet before she was flown to the UK.
Doctors are hopeful that the latest procedures – to put a titanium plate on her damaged skull and to fit a cochlear implant – will be the last surgery she will need to undergo.
Leitrim mother doing well after transplant of her Son's kidney
A 26-year-old Co Leitrim man has said he and his mother are doing well after he donated a kidney to her.
Trainee accountant Alan Healy was a rare match for his mother Helena, who was on dialysis and doctors said needed a transplant to save her life.
The operation went ahead as planned last week, and Alan said his mother was doing well.
“I’ve had very little pain,” he said. “Mum has had more pain than me, but the main thing is her kidney is working absolutely fine, (and has been) from as soon as she received it, which is brilliant.
“The doctors told us yesterday that her kidney is actually working better than mine at the minute.”
An Re-Enactment of Shackleton’s epic Antarctic rescue in the making
A crew of five led by British-Australian adventurer, Tim Jarvis, are attempting to become the first to authentically re-enact Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Epic 800nm rescue mission across the Southern Ocean from Elephant Island to South Georgia.
The team, are on their 11th day onboard the Alexandra Shackleton which is heading for South Georgia, some 23 nautical miles away. The purpose built 22ft vessel is an exact replica of the lifeboat, James Caird, which made the same journey across the perilous ocean to reach the rugged peaks of the island.
Alexandra Shackleton was named after the Kildare born, polar explorer’s only grand-daughter, who as previously reported on Afloat.ie was at the launch of the Shackleton Endurance Exhibition in Dun Laoghaire last September.The exhibition has a wonderful collection of photographs taken by Frank Hurley which relives the abandoning of the exploration ship Endurance, which became crushed in the pack ice, and the subsequent lifeboat rescue mission which can be read HERE in greater detail.
At only 22.5 ft/6.9m, Alexandra Shackleton, is a purpose built exact replica of the lifeboat, James Caird, which made the same journey across the perilous ocean to reach the rugged peaks of South Georgia.
The re-enactment of Shackleton’s ‘double’ journey across sea and land using traditional gear will be according to Jarvis (46), a veteran of multiple polar expeditions, the most challenging expedition of his life.
Shackleton Epic has been in development since 2008, when Shackleton approached Jarvis with the idea of an expedition to honour one of the greatest leadership and survival stories of all time. To keep abreast of news of the re-enactment team, there’s a BLOG and to track the vessel’s progress,
Books on prescriptions to beat mental health blues
People consulting their local GP over mental health issues may find they are written a surprising prescription, one redeemed at the local library rather than a pharmacy.
The “big guns” of the library and medical worlds have joined for an initiative to help treat those with mild to moderate mental health problems.
The “big guns” of the library and medical worlds have joined for an initiative to help treat those with mild to moderate mental health problems.
Patients could be recommended anything from one of 30 medical volumes dealing with specific conditions to “mood boosting books” — novels and poetry — from writers including Jo Brand, Bill Bryson and Terry Jones.
England’s Society of Chief Librarians ( SCL) and The Reading Agencythis week announced the scheme dubbed “Books on Prescription” which starts in May. “There’s growing evidence that shows that self-help reading can help people with certain mental health issues get better,” Miranda McKearney, director of The Reading Agency, said.
This forms part of a wider vision for the future of public libraries in the 21st century, including offering internet access and training, and potentially e-lending services.
The Book Prescription idea was particularly interesting as it could be funded out of health budgets.The scheme’s research and development is funded by Arts Council England to the tune of £19,900 from the Library Development Initiative Fund. The Reading Agency has also applied to the Department of Health for funding the following three years and expects the decision within the fortnight.
GPs will write out a prescription that will give patients immediate membership at the local library, with recommendations for titles rather than letting their patients rely on Google’s search results. The Reading Agency has compiled a list of 30 volumes aimed at those suffering with mental health issues from anger and anxiety to depression and chronic pain.
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