Poultry Industry (Hansard, 25 February 1993)

§ 2. Mrs. Gorman
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the state of the poultry industry.

§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr. Nicholas Soames)
Competition has been fierce in the egg and poultrymeat sectors over recent years and margins have been tight. But British producers and processors are among the most efficient in the European Community and I expect that present output levels will at least be maintained.

§ Mrs. Gorman
I thank my hon. Friend for his reply. Now that the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food has ruled that the poultry industry has a clean bill of health, will he take this opportunity to congratulate small businesses on the excellence of their products, perhaps sparing a sympathy vote for the nuns of Daventry who, of course, were put out of business during those sad events? Is not he right to refuse to be railroaded by the Labour party into another food scare over apple juice which he is determined to prevent?

§ Mr. Soames
I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who is herself a jolly good egg. I know that she is aware that the Dick report acknowledges that eggs are an importatnt source of human salmonella infection, but that the contribution that they make to current levels of human salmonella infection cannot be quantified precisely. My hon. Friend is entirely right that the reaction to events of this type should be a proportionate response and we must ensure that the measures taken are coherent and sensible and can be pragmatically enforced.

§ Mr. Morley
Will the Minister confirm that since the regulations were introduced, £10 million of public funds have been wasted on the policy and 3.25 million hens have been slaughtered, while in the same period outbreaks of this strain of salmonella have increased by 82 per cent? Does the Minister agree that he did not listen to the advice of the Agriculture Select Committee, endorsed by the Opposition, when it told him that the policy would not work? What does he intend to do about the increasing level of salmonella food poisoning in Britain?

§ Mr. Soames
On this, as on many other matters, the hon. Gentleman is entirely wrong. The Select Committee wholly endorsed the action of my right hon. Friend the Minister. The relationship between cases of human food poisoning caused by salmonella and the incidence of infection in laying flocks is extremely complex. Several factors are involved, from production to the safe handling, storage and use of eggs, including by the consumer. The Government have acted on all the recommendations in the Dick report, not merely on the one that the hon. Gentleman raised.

§ Mr. Martyn Jones
The Government have agreed to use-by dates and to stop their slaughter policy. When the Select Committee visited the public health laboratory 990 service, admittedly after reporting, on 7 February 1991, Professor Humphreys of the PHLS had evidence that stopping the slaughter policy and introducing use-by dates on eggs was the path to follow. Does the Minister agree that the policy has been an ineffective and monumental waste of time and that two years have been wasted in responding sensibly to the problem?

§ Mr. Soames
No, I cannot agree with the hon. Gentleman's statement. The Government were obliged, following the events of those days, to take action that secured consumers' confidence in the product and protected the egg industry, which was in great difficulty because consumption of eggs had fallen by 80 per cent. after the egg scare. We have acted at all times following the best scientific advice offered to us. We have now acted following further evidence from Professor Heather Dick. I believe that the steps that my right hon. Friend the Minister has taken are absolutely right.

§ Mr. Marland
Does my hon. Friend agree that in promoting further sales of British poultry the Strathclyde food initiative is an excellent undertaking? Large British companies such as Safeway, Allied-Lyons, Unigate, Rank Hovis and others have got together with producers and farmers to ensure that the right conditions prevail whereby they can sell more home-grown British food in British shops. Does my hon. Friend agree that the initiative should be widely endorsed?

§ Mr. Soames
My hon. Friend is entirely right. The Strathclyde food initiative is immensely valuable to the industry. It is a remarkable endeavour on the part of some major retailers and others. It will be and is of great benefit to the farming community. It is true that the farmers must pay more attention to marketing the goods that they produce. We must pay a great deal more attention to what we will do with the produce. To that end, the Strathclyde initiative is to be welcomed and I wholly endorse what my hon. Friend said.

§ Mr. Garnier
Does my hon. Friend accept that if there are to be further changes in the regulations on poultry welfare, they should be introduced on an EC-wide basis so that British poultry farmers are not placed at a disadvantage to their EC competitors?

§ Mr. Soames
My hon. Friend is entirely right. We are totally committed and will not introduce welfare amendments that are not practised throughout the Community and could thus disadvantage our people. My hon. Friend has my assurance and that of my right hon. Friend on the matter.