The agriculture minister is keen to introduce clearer country of origin labelling in the Isle of Man.

Phil Gawne's comments come in the wake of the recent concerns over Irish pork, and now possibly beef, being contaminated by infected feed.

Mr Gawne says the Island needs to act quickly and believes there is a general desire among people here to know more about the provenance of their meat.

On Mandate today he said:

"Recently we had a survey which the department funded for the Agricultural Marketing Society, which shows very clearly that Manx consumers are very interested in what they are buying and spend a lot of time looking at labels.

"And what we feel is important is Manx consumers being able to make informed decisions about the produce they wish to buy.

"It's important for Manx consumers to recognise that they can buy cheaper meat than Manx meat, but can they be sure where that meat has come from? Of course they can with Manx meat."