Food Irradiation (Hansard, 8 March 1990)

§ 11. Mr. Colvin
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what reports he has received from independent scientific committees regarding the safety of food irradiation.

§ Mr. Maclean
The safety of food irradiation has been confirmed in the report of the independent Advisory Committee on Irradiated and Novel Foods entitled "The Safety and Wholesomeness of Irradiated Foods". This includes reports from other independent scientific committees on a range of matters, including toxicology, nutrition, microbiology and radiology, and concludes that irradiation can safely be permitted.

§ Mr. Colvin
The House will be pleased to hear that those committees will be joining the Ministry, the World Health Organisation and 35 other countries in saying that irradiated food is safe, but my hon. Friend failed to get that message across to the women's institutes of this country, who lobbied Parliament in force last week. Will he do something to improve his publicity? When he gets a package together, will he consider including in it details of the regulatory framework for irradiation? He will be able to include those once the Bill that we shall be debating this afternoon is on the statute book.

§ Mr. Maclean
Like all sensible hon. Members on both sides of the House, my hon. Friend is in awe of the women's institutes. I take on board the points that he has made. When irradiation is being used, there will be the tightest possible regulatory regime for it. The Bill that is currently before the House is not the end of the matter. The one issue on which the women's institutes are in complete agreement with the Government is the freedom of the consumer to choose. If 8 per cent. or 13 per cent. of the public want to buy irradiated food I cannot see why we should stop them.

Mr. Alan W. Williams
What does the Minister have to say about comments made last week by Professor Bevan Moseley, head of the institute of food research at Reading? The professor said that the number of cases of food poisoning in Britain could be halved if we were allowed to have irradiated poultry meat. Bearing in mind that only 21 out of 140 countries allow irradiation, that only 11 allow poultry meat to be irradiated, and that only two of those 11 have actually used irradiation for poultry, will the Minister take this opportunity to dismiss out of hand Professor Moseley's comments and assure the people of this country that the Government do not want to see the large-scale irradiation of poultry?

§ Mr. Maclean
No, I shall not seek to dismiss the comments of one of Britain's most eminent scientists and experts on food irradiation. The extent of the reduction in the number of food sickness cases related to irradiation will depend on consumer uptake. If consumers want to use irradiated foods—and we all know that irradiation is a safe process—if there is a growth in demand, irradiation will certainly have a major part to play. If, as forecasts suggest, only a minority of consumers want irradiation, the part played by irradiation will remain relatively small.

Several Hon. Members
rose——

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. So that there may be no distress in the Chamber, perhaps I should explain that I am being heavily urged by the Procedure Committee to speed up Question Time. As those who are in the Chamber for agriculture questions know well, sometimes the sun comes out after the rain. If hon. Members do not remain in the Chamber it is difficult to call them.

§ Mrs. Gorman
As the Ministry has proved to my satisfaction the safety of irradiation, will the Minister consider extending it to the carcases of chickens slaughtered under zoonoses orders because they may be contaminated with salmonella? Is not it an acknowledged fact that most chickens have salmonella, but that so long as they are properly treated they can be used in the food chain? Is not that better than wastefully slaughtering them and dumping the carcases?

§ Mr. Maclean
My hon. Friend is certainly the sun after the rain—she is often the calm before the storm as well. It is better not to confuse two separate issues. All that we seek to do is to make irradiation available to consumers if they wish to use it. I have no intention of extending irradiation compulsorily to any process or foodstuff. If consumers want to use irradiated chicken meat, poultry meat and carcases, they may do so, provided that the food is safe.