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A possible post-Brexit ban on the import of potatoes from the UK could affect supplies in Ireland next year.
As of January 1, UK table potatoes and seed potatoes could be in breach of EU food safety standards.
When the UK becomes a third country, it will be outside the legal framework of European Union food safety standards.
Many service outlets, including potato chip shops, use British potatoes as French fries.
One of Ireland’s oldest potato chip shops warned that the ban could not only change the taste and type of potato chips Irish consumers enjoy, but could lead to shortages and changes in portion sizes.
Leo Burdock said they use British potatoes because of their unique quality, which makes them suitable for frying.
They have a better balance, chemically their composition, the dry matter and the sugars are more suitable for frying French fries, so that they have that crunchy and that flavor.
“Teagasc is working on developing a better homegrown alternative, but they are not there yet,” said Derek Duggan of Leo Burdock.
He is responsible for sourcing potatoes and Leo Burdock uses Irish grown potatoes at certain times of the year. But like most potato chip shops, they use British sourced potatoes most of the time.
Duggan said Brexit is a serious problem and they are concerned about the impact on the taste that customers like.
“The supply will be affected, the quality will be different, we are looking to get as many homegrown products as possible, but that might not work,” he said.
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That Brexit could affect the potato chip shop is bad, but the impact on potato growers could be much worse.
The potato crop grows from potato seeds. Ireland was once a seed exporter, but over the past 30 years the sector has shrunk.
Irish farmers produce around 4,000 tonnes of seed potatoes each year. But they import 6,000 tonnes of seeds, mainly from Scotland.
The deficit is huge and many are speculating that the seed potato sector here will have to rejuvenate to face the deficit. But that will take time.
Many of the large seed suppliers have pre-ordered and the crop to be sown early next year has already been imported and is in storage awaiting distribution.
In October, the Department of Agriculture issued a Trader Notice to Industry urging people to import certified seed and consumer potatoes from the UK by 1 January 2021. Consumer potatoes are those consumed by consumers , also known as table potatoes.
The trade notice issued by the Department of Agriculture said: “As of January 1, 2021, the UK will become a ‘third country’ (non-EU member state) and EU phytosanitary standards in the field intra-Community trade in plants, products, seed potatoes and consumer potatoes will no longer apply to the UK.
“Therefore, when the withdrawal agreement between the UK and the EU ends on December 31, 2020, the import of certified seeds and consumer potatoes from Great Britain will be banned.”
The notice also outlined how resolving the issue could take some time and depend on the outcome of trade negotiations between the UK and the European Union.
The notice warns: “The UK has applied to the EU for ‘third country’ equivalency for the export of certified seed and consumer potatoes to the EU.
“This request must go through the EU law-making process and is not immediate. The EU has indicated that this process will only begin when trade negotiations with the UK are completed.”
The notice also noted: “Under the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol, trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will not be affected.”
The impact will not only be felt in Ireland. Some of the big food processors in Great Britain that make frozen fries buy their potatoes in Belgium and other EU countries. Such imports to Great Britain will also be banned.
That presents some problems. UK-based companies will have a hard time sourcing the raw material to make their frozen chips.
Potatoes normally sold in the UK will have to be sold elsewhere and growers here are concerned that the market could be flooded with potatoes, driving prices down.
Irish potato growers produce around 350,000 tonnes of potatoes a year. But around 80,000 tonnes are imported from the UK each year to meet demand in the service industry, particularly chip shops.
Farmers here grow around 10,000 tonnes which is suitable for chip making, but there is a significant difference in quality and type between potatoes from the UK and those grown here.
Teagasc and Bord Bia, along with other agencies, are working to improve the quality of the Irish harvest. Great strides have been made and the investigation process continues.
Thomas McKeown grows potatoes on his farm near Kells in Co Meath. He said growers should be fine for next year as there is already a lot of seed in Ireland, but said: “Looking ahead, it will be a big problem.”
McKeown is chairman of the Irish Farmers Associations Potato Committee, and he said that since he started farming more than 30 years ago, the sector has seen a slow and steady reduction in size.
He said: “When I started here on the farm in the late 1980s, the country grew twice as many potatoes as it does now. People’s perception of potatoes has changed, some people see it as a throwback to famine and we are trying to remove the shackles and move on.
“But it’s been a staple in the diet and when the closing came in March, one of the things that went up in sales was potatoes, sales went up two, three times, so it sometimes shows that people sometimes can forget where they came from. “
But McKeown says there could be an opportunity for the sector, one heavily dependent on imports from Scotland.
He said: “We have high grade status here just like Scotland (for growing potato from seed), farmers are very good at pessimism, but there are opportunities here. It could help restart the seed industry here and make make the public and growers more aware of where their seeds and potatoes come from. “
But the most immediate impact will be on chip shops. Bord Bia’s research last year determined how much the Irish like the chipper.
One in four of us go to a traditional chipper to buy potato chips, at least once a week. Two thirds of us mistakenly think French fries are Irish.
Men and millennials go to the chip shop more often. The final finding of Bord Bia’s research is perhaps the most revealing, the texture and appearance of the tiles are highly rated where we choose to buy our tiles.
So the industry is concerned.
More seasoned traders know that switching to Irish fries after January 1 will make a difference that customers will notice.
At Leo Burdocks, Denis Duggan explains: “We can get homegrown potatoes, they will be different, they won’t be as crisp, sadly the sugar balance won’t be the same.
“It could be an opportunity for people to get in touch with home-grown produce, but there will be a different flavor. We may have to modify the salt and vinegar and what we do with the sauces.”
Crucially, on the question of the actual impact on trade, Duggan speculated that supply could be a problem.
He said the 10,000 tonnes of Irish potato chips that are suitable for French fries have limited availability and are only an option at certain times of the year.
“There could be a shortage, we might have to go to smaller portions. Hopefully not, but we will have to wait and see,” he said.
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