§ 53. Mr. Yorkasked the Minister of Agriculture whether he is aware that the virus of fowl pest has been found in the skin of eviscerated and frozen 161W chickens; and whether he contemplates any new regulations to prevent further importations of this disease.
Mr. T. WilliamsYes; the virus of fowl pest has been recovered from scrapings of the skins of frozen eviscerated carcases of poultry brought from abroad. It was expected that these carcases would be cooked whole and, since cooking destroys the virus, that the risk of conveying the disease to our own flocks would be negligible even where virus was present in a carcase. Since, however, there is still some element of risk, technical experts of the Ministry of Food and of my Department have been sent to the Continent to investigate the conditions under which the trade is conducted, and to advise what further measures can be taken to reduce that risk.