§ 26. Mr. DAYasked the Minister of Agriculture whether any steps are being taken by his Department for the purpose of preparing a scheme of marking British meat, so that the public will know at a glance whether the meat purchased from their butchers is English or Foreign?
§ The MINISTER of AGRICULTURE (Mr. Guinness)The Ministry has in hand the preparation of a voluntary scheme for grading and marking the three top qualities of home-killed meat on wholesale meat markets. The National Federation of Meat Traders' Associations has assisted in defining the three grades and the Ministry is now considering in conjunction with the National Farmers' Union and distributors' organisations, where and in what way the scheme could best be given a fair trial. The schema would incidentally enable all buyers of graded and marked meat to know that it is home killed, but since the scheme would be only applicable to a portion of the home-killed supplies and would be voluntary, it would not distinguish all home-killed from foreign.
§ Mr. GUINNESSNegotiations are going on, and, if we can get a settlement, we shall hope to bring the scheme into operation as soon as possible.
§ Brigadier-General CHARTERISAre we to understand that the word "English" in the question includes "Scottish"?
§ Mr. GUINNESSNo, I think the Scottish trade have their separate mark. We have a national mark for this country with a map of England on it; the national mark for Scotland has a map of Scotland on it.
§ Mr. MACQUISTENIn the case of Scottish meat, will that be distinguished from English by this mark; is it not notorious that it is the best beef?
§ Mr. GUINNESSThat is a matter for the Secretary of State for Scotland.