The use of Dutch cheese in Ireland’s State-funded school meals programme is insulting and “hypocritical”, dairy farmers have warned.
The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) has warned that the State programme has been using cheese imported from the Netherlands in school meals.
The group is urging the programme, which delivers hot meals to over 2,200 secondary schools to focus on using Irish produce where possible.
On The Pat Kenny Show, ICMSA President Denis Drennan said it is “hypocritical” that children are being taught about food miles and then eating Dutch cheese with their lunches.
“I mean, I don't think it's a big ask that the Irish State should ask schools who are participating in the school lunches scheme to source local Irish-produced food where possible,” he said.
“I don't think it's big ask for our own children to eat our own food.
“We're not asking anybody to break the law or anything.”
Buy local
Mr Drennan said he would like to see schools involved in the State-funded programme encouraged to “buy local”.
“If your son or daughter is in school and if you're a dairy farmer, it's very hard to understand why you need to fly cheese in from Holland when it's available over the ditch in your local Co-Op,” he said.
Mr Drennan said Ireland’s dairy industry is more sustainable than the Netherland’s.
“We have one of the most sustainable systems of food production in the world here – especially our dairy sector and our beef sector,” he said.
“If we're comparing, [Ireland has an] outdoor system of farming, grass-based system of dairy production, and obviously cheese production from that, compared to an indoor system in Holland.”
Opportunity costs
He said he can’t see how Dutch cheese can be “any cheaper” than Irish cheese.
"We want to encourage our children to a space where they're having nutritionally-balanced, environmentally-sustainable foods that taste good,” he said.
“Our dairy products are famous worldwide and that's why we have such export markets all over the world.
“We got a quarter of a million tons of cheese exported in 2022 - they're the latest figures that we have.
“It's very hard to explain to people why we've the likes of Bord Bia and Ornua travelling the world, promoting our cheese and how environmentally friendly it is, how sustainable it is, how nutritious it is, how tasty it is – and yet we want to feed our children with cheese imported from another country?”
Mr Drennan said the ICMSA is not against imported dairy when it comes to adults “making their own decisions in supermarkets”.
Close up of girl eating sandwich. 24/06/2015 Image: Tetra Images, LLC / Alamy Stock Photo
