§ Mr. Biffenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether, in view of the reduced state of swine vesicular disease, he will make a statement on the implementation of orders controlling the sale of swill-fed pigs.
§ Mrs. FennerAlthough outbreaks of swine vesicular disease have been greatly reduced there is no cause to relax our vigilance. Two further cases have recently occurred—one in Denbighshire and one in Yorkshire—and show how quickly the disease can strike again. The Movement of Pigs (Waste Food Precautions) Order 1973, which requires that pigs from premises to which waste food has been brought in the previous three months must be licensed direct to slaughter and that the vehicles in which they are carried must be cleaned and disinfected before and after use, is a general disease control measure. Swill-fed pigs are a particular disease risk, since they have been the means of introducing both foot-and-mouth disease and swine fever, and the recent swine vesicular disease epidemic has demonstrated again the vulnerability of our livestock industry to disease introduced in swill. Whilst disease may be introduced in spite of our precautions, this order will prevent swill-fed pigs spreading it through markets.