§ Sir Clive Bossomasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will now make a statement about the latest consignment of mutton which arrived at Liverpool from the Argentine; and whether he is satisfied that it is entirely free from foot-and-mouth virus;
(2) how many consignments of Argentine mutton have arrived in the country since the import ban was imposed; on what dates; and at which docks.
§ Mr. Peart:I cannot add to my reply of 12th February to the hon. Member ex- 414W cept to say that the imports of mutton and lamb from Argentina recorded in the December Trade Accounts totalled 640 tons, all of which arrived at the London docks.—[Vol. 758, c. 285.]
§ Mr. Elystan Morganasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the total amount of meat imported to Great Britain from the Argentine in 1967; and how much of this amount he estimates could have been purchased from countries where foot-and-mouth disease is not endemic.
§ Mr. Peart:Imports of carcase meat and offal from Argentina in 1967 totalled 132,100 tons. Had none of this been bought some extra supplies of frozen meat from new or existing sources would no doubt have been imported by the trade, if acceptably priced; but of the 88,000 tons of chilled beef included in this total I should not have expected importers to have been able to replace more than a small part with chilled or fresh beef from other sources, even if they paid considerably higher prices.