Food Safety Act 1990 (Hansard, 25 February 1993)

§ 6. Mr. Riddick
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he intends to review the working of the Food Safety Act 1990.

§ Mr. Soames
I keep the Act under constant review and, indeed, we are now looking at all the regulations that have been issued to ensure that they properly fulfil their purpose.

§ Mr. Riddick
Is my hon. Friend aware that a number of small bakers and grocers have had to spend thousands of pounds on new shelves and new fridges, depending on how their local authorities have interpreted the Act? Those small business men see that Act as a bureaucratic imposition rather than as a measure designed to improve food safety. Can my hon. Friend assure the House that the proposed EC directive on dairies, which was brought to my attention this week by a local farmer, who tells me that it will cost him £25,000 and might even put him out of business, will not be an equal bureaucratic nonsense?

§ Mr. Soames
I cannot agree with my hon. Friend that the 1990 Act has been bureaucractic nonsense. It has been broadly welcomed, by not only consumers but firms involved in food processing and manufacture. I agree with my hon. Friend that proper, honourable and accurate assessment of enforcement throughout the country is of extreme and critical importance. The problem that arises with the 1990 Act is that enforcement often appears not to be on a level playing field. We have taken a great deal of trouble with environmental health officers and local authorities and believe that we now have more satisfactory enforcement. As to my hon. Friend's specific point about the dairy trade, if he will give me more details of the farm to which he referred, I shall be happy to see him, with my right hon. Friend the Minister, and to look into the matter on his behalf.

§ Mr. Salmond
Does the Food Safety Act 1990 have any implications for the substantial quantities of cheap 994 Russian, American and Canadian fish that were imported into the EC last October and November at below reference prices and which are now finding their way through the cold stores and are destabilising the fish market in the Community? If food safety regulations are not relevant, is there any other action that the Government will take to stop that market destabilisation?

§ Mr. Soames
We all admire the hon. Gentleman's ingenuity, but there are no implications for the Food Safety Act 1990.

§ Mr. Hicks
Despite my hon. Friend's observations, is not it a fact that absurd cases have arisen—in part, as a consequence of differing interpretations by various statutory authorities—and should not the Government's deregulation unit undertake an investigation?

§ Mr. Soames
My hon. Friend is right. There have been some unfortunate incidents, but also many grossly over-exaggerated and inaccurate media reports. My hon. Friend will be reassured to know that my right hon. Friend the Minister has set in train a substantial deregulation programme. One aspect to which we are turning our attention is deregulation and the whole corpus of food law. My hon. Friend would not expect us to take any steps that could put the consumer at a disadvantage in respect of the high state of food protection that we currently have—but I take his point and will bear it in mind when we consider that issue.

§ Dr. Strang
Does the Minister accept that while the possibility of BSE being transmitted to humans seems remote, we cannot be absolutely certain of that for some years because the incubation period of the agent in human beings is likely to be very long? What is the Minister's response to the continuing rise, each month over the past year, in the number of cows reported to have BSE and to the likelihood that the total number of cows slaughtered because of BSE will break the 100,000 barrier this year?
Is the Minister still confident that BSE is caused by a single source—cattle feed contaminated with ruminant protein? Is he satisfied that there is no vertical transmission from cow to calf and no horizontal transmission between cattle in the same herd? Can we still be confident that BSE will be completely eradicated by the year 2000, as predicted by the Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament? Will the Minister assure the House that the Government are seized of the importance of the issue?

§ Mr. Soames
On the hon. Gentleman's latter point, he knows perfectly well that the Government are very seized of the issue. It is one of the most critical facing us and naturally we spend a great deal of time on it. I reassure the hon. Gentleman and the House that nothing in the evidence received since the Tyrrell committee reported has caused the Government's expert advisers to alter in any way their views on BSE and their belief that the disease will be eradicated eventually. I confirm that the source of the infection is undoubtedly, we believe, ruminant protein in feed and that, following the feedstuffs ban, we are beginning to see a considerable decrease in the numbers infected.
Let me make a further point about the increase in the figures. Because a certain period elapsed between the feed ban and the clearing of feed from the farms, the numbers are greater than we had at first thought. As for maternal and horizontal transmissions, even if they do occur—and 995 there is no compelling evidence of that—there is no reason why such transmissions should have any effect on the epidemic itself.