§ Mrs. Winifred Ewingasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his view on the EEC Directive regarding the banning from 1981 of fresh plucked turkeys which are not plucked in a food processing station.
§ Mr. William RossAfter 1981 "fresh plucked poultry" will continue to be116W available for sale to the consumer by a poultry producer at the farm gate. This apart, all poultry will have to be eviscerated under controlled conditions in a slaughterhouse constructed and operated in accordance with rules of hygiene which are designed to reduce the risks of harmful contamination to a minimum and in which a proper inspection is carried out to protect the consumer from the marketing of diseasesd or unwholesome poultry meat.
In my view, these measures, which will eventually ban the evisceration of poultry in a food shop with the attendant dangers of cross-contamination from infected or dirty viscera, are in the best interests of both consumers and producers; moreover, as a result of the agreement secured in Brussels, the Government are able to introduce these new rules in an orderly and progressive manner.
I take this opportunity to correct the mistaken impression that the Directive requires all poultry meat to be frozen. Fresh poultry meat, eviscerated at time of slaughter, is already available to many consumers and supplies should increase to meet the expected growth in demand.