HC Deb 19 June 1997 vol 296 cc442-3
4. Mr. Cousins

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to require mechanically recovered meat material to be separately and specifically labelled in food products. [2894]

Mr. Rooker

United Kingdom regulators already believe that existing food labelling rules require that mechanically recovered meat products should be labelled separately. If there is any doubt about that, there has already been one successful prosecution, so the matter has been upheld by the British courts. Recently, we have succeeded in getting the rest of Europe to go along with us, so we are in the lead on this.

Mr. Cousins

I cheerfully welcome my hon. Friend to his new position.

Does my hon. Friend agree that consumers wish to know what they eat, and that they do not know in every case that the meat that they eat has been produced by firing high-pressure water jets at animal carcases, to produce what the Government Food Standards Committee once described as a highly coloured slurry or emulsion"? This must be made absolutely clear and it must not be left entirely to local authorities such as Shropshire and Somerset to carry out the necessary enforcement action.

Mr. Rooker

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. That is why the regulations and the guidance to them are not only being reviewed, but will be reinforced, certainly by the end of this year.

Mr. Ian Bruce

Can the Minister tell us how a consumer knows that a product does not come from meat, particularly beef, being produced in other countries, which import into this country material that could contain traces of BSE, defeating the things that we are already doing to ensure that BSE is kept out of the food chain?

Mr. Rooker

We cannot do that at the moment because the previous Government did not take any action to end the problem. This Government are taking action. As the hon. Gentleman knows, if action is not agreed by the European Union by 22 July, the regulations and orders will be brought to the House forthwith.

Mr. Pickthall

While my hon. Friend is considering the labelling of food products, will he consider the labelling of products that contain genetically modified ingredients and ensure that the consumer is given the choice as to whether to consume such ingredients?

Mr. Rooker

It has already been done and negotiators in Brussels have received new instructions from the Government and this Department. If a food product may contain genetically modified material, the label will have to say so because producers refuse to separate the crop ingredients.