Food Safety (Hansard, 9 May 1996)

§ 6. Mr. Khabra
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met consumer representatives to discuss Government policy on food safety. [27460]

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
Yesterday afternoon.

§ Mr. Khabra
When the Minister met consumer representatives, did they tell him that there is still no confidence in the safety of British beef, that at least 48 per cent. of slaughterhouses were breaking the BSE controls last September and that 10 slaughterhouses were breaking the rules this March? What has the Minister told those representatives and what confidence has he given to them?

§ Mr. Hogg
I had the pleasure of meeting representatives of consumer organisations yesterday. I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman's assertion that consumer confidence has not been restored; it is recovering. Consumption is moving upwards; some of the figures suggest that it is at about 80 per cent. There is a substantial recovery.
It is true that during the latter part of last year there were examples of non-compliance with the controls in certain slaughterhouses, and that is worrying. That is why I have called in representatives of the industry on a number of separate occasions.
The audits that we have been carrying out recently show an enormous improvement in compliance, which is reflected in the control report that the European Commission made to the Council.

§ Mr. Nicholas Baker
Will my right hon. and learned Friend encourage, from that Dispatch Box, consumer representatives to ask retailers and restaurants throughout the United Kingdom to stock that safest of products, British beef? To that end, will he also do everything he can to speed up the implementation of the 30-month cull and to increase the flow of information from his Department to the beef industry?

§ Mr. Hogg
It is probably true that the British beef industry is now the most heavily scrutinised and regulated in Europe, and we can say with absolute confidence that there is no beef industry in Europe with higher standards. As for speeding up the cull and improving the flow of information, again my hon. Friend is right. I am glad to say that the process of slaughtering the cull cows is speeding up, and I hope that about 25,000 will be slaughtered next week. We also need to ensure that the farming community is kept fully aware of all relevant information, and we shall seek to do so.

§ Mr. Sheerman
Is the Minister not aware that consumer confidence in British beef was destroyed in America, Australia and Europe when the Secretary of State for Health and the Minister of Agriculture, ran into the Chamber to make statements that caused, or precipitated, the crisis in the first place? Then they said that they would do nothing about it. They did not even tell the House what they intended to do until the following Monday. Let us establish the truth: the crisis was brought about by the Government, and they have spent every moment since then blaming everybody else.

§ Mr. Hogg
Let us analyse that question, if we may, and see what it amounts to: an assertion that the Government should have swept under the carpet and concealed the conclusions and recommendations of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee. That is a disgraceful suggestion.

§ Mr. Garnier
Is my right hon. and learned Friend aware that one of the best places to acquire safe British food from British farm animals is Market Harborough cattle market? Will he confirm that E. A. Lane and Sons of Leicester, which is on the list attached to the letter dated 2 May from the Minister of State, is the company that runs Market Harborough cattle market, which is open for business and doing well?

§ Mr. Hogg
My hon. and learned Friend can be reassured on that point. Another place in which to find very good British beef is the House of Commons Dining Room.

§ Mrs. Golding
Did the Minister discuss with the consumer representatives the reasons why they are not represented on SEAC, as they are on other Government scientific committees such as the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes, the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food and the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy? What would his explanation have been of the reasons why consumers are excluded from SEAC, the Government scientific committee discussing BSE? Does he not think that, if 359 there had been consumer representatives there, they would have had a better understanding and the public would have been better informed?

§ Mr. Hogg
I discussed that very question with the Consumers Association, and I told it that SEAC is a specialist committee set up to give the Government specialist advice. It does not seem to me that appointing representatives of groups that do not possess the relevant expertise would assist in the formulation of the specialist advice. If we were to adopt the principle that the hon. Lady commends to me, we should have to follow it further and put representatives of other interest groups on SEAC—producers, renderers, hauliers, retailers and so forth. That would so dilute the nature of SEAC that it would not be able to serve the purposes for which it was established.