Food labels can be 'deceiving' - claiming to be Irish when they are not actually from here.
That is according to one Lunchtime Live listener who followed up on where his fish was actually caught, and he got a big surprise.
Noel from Drogheda bought marinated prawns in his local Tesco last week, but the package did not state where they were caught.
The label said that they were 'produced' for an Irish seafood company in Co Mayo.
However, Noel said after getting in touch with the company, he was told the prawns were actually farmed in Vietnam.
"I was surprised and shocked, because had I known that I wouldn't have bought them," he said.
"I had seen a couple of documentaries on prawns and the way they’re farmed in South-East Asia and other countries - and they use a lot of chemicals and [it's] certainly not healthy.
"I was surprised, there was no origin - where the product was from - on the label anywhere."
'This is a technicality'
He said the suggestion of the prawns being 'produced for' an Irish company is misleading.
"It said 'produced for', but the thing that was deceiving was that the prawns were marinated in chili and coriander.
"Was the company adding the chili and coriander marinate? Is that why it said [that]?"
Nick Lynch from Nick's Fish said this is easy to miss.
"Nobody's doing anything illegal here; this is just a technicality," he said.
A Produced in Ireland label on own-brand food items. Picture by: Radharc Images / Alamy Stock Photo"It's a technically that suits some of the large retailers though.
"The front of the product will proudly proclaim an Irish producer and packer - lovely - and there'll be multiple references to an Irish location.
"Then at the very back you'll see: 'This product may have been previously frozen'... and also the catch area.
"[If] the catch area says south-east Atlantic, it comes from South Africa.
"The south-east Atlantic starts at the Congo Delta and goes south."
'Produced in Ireland'
Nick said any label claiming 'Produced in Ireland' can have a wide meaning.
"If you put a sauce on it; if you do something to it, you can make it Irish," he said.
"You can make it Irish by adding something to it."
Shane McAuliffe, a pig farmer from Co Kerry, said the existing legislation on food information only applies to pre-packed foods.
"This is your classic example of, you're in a hotel, you're going to the carvery, or you might ask for a full Irish - most of the time, it’s actually not Irish.
"This is something that we police in the Irish Farmers' Association because Irish pork and bacon is actually traced by DNA.
"What you'll find in the supermarkets is, when it comes to pork and bacon, you'll be looking for the Bord Bia quality assurance label.
"Of course, you won't get any of this if you go into a butcher and you see pork chops on the shelf with no labels – and the same if you go into a restaurant where there's a carvery."
