Blue text shows Bord Bia bias against North, say NI politicians

Bord Bia has been forced to defend the proposed use of blue text to denote NI produce on its Quality Assurance label, against claims of protectionism

New designs for a Bord Bia Quality Mark, which use blue text to represent produce which comes from Northern Ireland, have been criticised by NI politicians

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Bord Bia’s proposed use of blue instead of green text on its Quality Assurance label  to denote Northern Ireland food produce, has been contested in a North-South ministerial conference.

The Irish Times reported NI Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment Arlene Foster, is understood to have contacted the office of the Taoiseach to voice complaints on cross-Border trading.

Northern Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson also claimed Union Jack stickers were being put on Northern products in several retail food outlets throughout the Republic.

However a Bord Bia spokeswoman said consumers had been complaining they couldn’t easily determine the precise origin of items produced on the island of Ireland. New designs, including one using blue rather than green text, were subsequently drafted and uploaded onto the Bord Bia website as potential alternatives.

The existing label carries a shamrock logo inside a “Q” mark with green text which says “Origin Ireland” with a Tricolour underneath for produce of the Republic and “Origin Northern Ireland” for Northern Ireland-produced food, with no flag underneath.

She said Northern Ireland producers were entitled to use the QA mark under EU regulations and had paid for the audits which were carried out to allow its use.

“The board denied there was any element of protectionism [involved],” she added.

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