§ Mr. Llewellynasked the Minister of Food whether he will arrange for Mexican canned beef, bought from the United States of America for £478,000, to be analysed before being put on sale to the public, owing to the fact that foot and mouth disease was prevalent in Mexico when the beef was canned.
§ Mr. WebbIt is the routine practice of my Department to check that all bulk purchased canned meats have been properly processed by subjecting samples to bacteriological examination. Foot and mouth virus will not survive proper processing. Moreover, as I stated in my reply to the hon. Member for Dorset, North (Mr. Crouch), yesterday, the cattle from which this commodity was prepared were inspected both before and after slaughter by officers of the United States Department of Agriculture and found free from disease.