Using Bord Bia Logos

Click on a question below to jump to the answer. 

1. When can the Bord Bia Origin Ireland Logo be used?
2. Have Bord Bia approved meat processing plants outside of the Republic of Ireland?
3. Can Northern Irish plants slaughter Quality Assured cattle from the RoI?
4. How can I be sure that meat with the Bord Bia Origin Ireland logo is from Quality Assured Irish farms?
5. How often are meat factories audited by Bord Bia?
6. Can other countries join Bord Bia’s Quality Assurance programme?

1. When can the Bord Bia Origin Ireland Logo be used?

The Origin Ireland logo can only be used on meat products from animals born and reared on Quality Assured farms in the Republic of Ireland and slaughtered in Quality Assured Irish plants in the Republic of Ireland. If that meat is subsequently sliced or minced and packed outside of Ireland in Bord Bia Quality Assured plants, the Origin Ireland can be used.

2. Have Bord Bia approved meat processing plants outside of the Republic of Ireland?

The Associate Membership Scheme was developed in 2012 to enable Bord Bia Quality Assured meat, slaughtered in approved RoI processing plants, to be sliced, minced or further processed and packed closer to the end market. This allows Quality Assured Irish meat to remain on retail shelves for a longer period of time, facilitating the increased availability of Quality Assured meat abroad bearing the Origin Ireland logo.

There are currently four associate members outside of the island of Ireland: ABP Ellesmere (UK), Moypark Cedex (France), SVA Jean Rozé, (France), and Dagab Inkop & Logistik (Sweden). These plants are not approved for slaughtering Quality Assured Irish cattle.

3. Can Northern Irish plants slaughter Quality Assured cattle from the RoI?

As of November 2019, ten plants in Northern Ireland are members of Bord Bia’s Meat Processor Quality Assurance Scheme (MPQAS). Four of these plants are approved to slaughter Quality Assured cattle born and reared in the Republic of Ireland. These plants allow for an alternative selling outlet for RoI Irish farmers, especially in the border region. Quality Assured animals from the RoI, slaughtered at these four plants can be sold with the Produced and Processed Ireland and Northern Ireland Logo.

4. How can I be sure that meat with the Bord Bia Origin Ireland logo is from Quality Assured Irish farms?

It is a requirement of the Bord Bia programme that all Quality Assured product must be identified as such at every stage of the process. This status must be traceable at any point in the processing process and final product must be labelled so that full traceability is maintained.  

When animals are brought for slaughter the factory will check the animal’s tag number to verify information about the animal.

Following slaughter, the carcass is fitted with a carcass tag which contains all the information about the animal.

Quality Assured carcasses are segregated from non-Quality Assured carcasses. When Quality Assured carcasses are processed (cut, minced, sliced etc.), all carcass numbers entering a specific product line (e.g Quality Assured diced beef) are allocated a batch code that is printed on the final product. This means that it is possible to know what carcasses were allocated to a specific product using the batch code information. 

During the audit, the auditor can trace all the carcasses included within a load to check whether their Quality Assurance status was correctly assigned. 

For processed carcasses, auditors select a product awaiting dispatch and check back through the stages to ensure the label is correct and that full traceability was maintained at all times.

Reconciliation exercises are conducted on product dispatched as Quality Assured. This calculation provides the evidence that the product identified as Quality Assured at slaughter matches and balances with Quality Assured product dispatched.

5. How often are meat factories audited by Bord Bia?

Processors undergo an announced audit from Bord Bia auditors every 18 months and an additional unannounced spot audit at any time within that period.  In addition, processing plants may be targeted for additional audits at any point during the certification period if deemed necessary.  Bord Bia also conducts Retail audits to check that Quality Assured product on the shelf in retail stores comes from a certified plant.

6. Can other countries join Bord Bia’s Quality Assurance programme?

Because Bord Bia uses state funds, Bord Bia must abide by rules set out by the European Commission designed to ensure fair EU trading. These are known as ‘state aid rules’. Under State Aid Rules Bord Bia Schemes must be open to all EU relevant food producers and processors.  For another member state to use their own country of origin logo, their farmers and processors would need to become audited members of Bord Bia’s QA schemes. However, there has been little interest in the scheme from other member states and no member state uses the Quality Mark logo for their country. Only Northern Ireland has joined the Meat Processor Quality Assurance Scheme, but no Northern Irish farmers are members of Bord Bia.