§ Mr. Biffenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the expected impact on the meat importing trade of the EEC decision that imports of frozen beef from third countries outside the GATT agreement should be matched by imports from EEC intervention stocks; and if the Government will insist on the boning-out of EEC intervention beef in view of the foot-and-mouth epidemic now prevalent in certain continental areas of the Common Market.
§ Mr. PeartWhen special arrangements for the import of frozen beef into the EEC were discussed in principle by the Council of Ministers at the end of April, I said that I would ask for changes in the system if in practice it proved unsatisfactory and unduly restricted imports. The detailed arrangements that were subsequently made for operating the system were unsatisfactory and I have accordingly pressed for changes to be made. Some have already been agreed, and a reduction has been made in the sale price of some types of intervention beef; others are still being discussed. Until the details of the scheme are finally settled it would be premature to attempt any assessment of its impact on the meat importing trade.
There is no question of the United Kingdom's accepting beef from intervention stocks which does not fully comply with our animal health requirements. Deboning of meat is only required on animal health grounds from countries where foot-and-mouth disease is endemic. No EEC country is in this category. However, boneless beef clearly offers advantages in storage and handling, and provision has now been made to allow intervention agencies to demon beef before freezing it.