§ Mr. Shersbyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to what extent he intends to allow freedom for innovation and development of meat products within the framework of compositional standards for staple items; and if such standards will be dealt with in his proposed new meat regulations.
§ Mrs. FennerAny new regulations are introduced only after full discussion with all the interests concerned, during which careful consideration is given to the need to provide for new developments within the food industry. Compositional standards are dealt with in the proposals for new meat labelling regulations at present under discussion.
§ Mr. Shersbyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he is satisfied that other European Community members States apply the standards of the EEC Meat Products Directive (77/79) as vigorously as authorities in the United Kingdom, particularly in respect of products that are imported into the United Kingdom.
§ Mrs. FennerThe responsibility for the application of the directive rests with the exporting member State. We have applied the rules to our exports of meat products fairly and flexibly so as to minimise disruption to established patterns of trade. I am not aware of any significant differences of approach by other member States.
§ Mr. Shersbyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will seek to ease the requirements of the Meat Products Directive (77/79) on meat products manufacturers who wish to obtain an EEC licence to export.
§ Mrs. FennerWe seek to implement the requirements of the Meat Products Directive 77/99/EEC as flexibly as possible whilst maintaining the necessary hygiene standards. We have also asked the European Commission to review the directive provisions in the light of experience and developments in meat processing techniques; we have recently achieved some relaxation on the application of the rules to products containing only small amounts of meat.
§ Mr. Shersbyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he is satisfied that the provisions of the Meat (Sterilisation and Staining) Regulations will establish as effective a control over imported unfit meat and offal as it will over similar material produced in the United Kingdom.
§ Mrs. FennerThe regulations will apply strict controls to trade in unfit meat whatever its source. The movement254W controls, under which the responsible authorities will authorise and monitor the disposal of unfit meat, will apply equally to imported and home-produced supplies. In other respects the rules for imported meat will differ somewhat from those for home-produced meat because of the different conditions which apply to the import trade; the importation of knacker meat and offal, for example, is already prohibited on animal health grounds.
§ Mr. Shersbyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he is satisfied that the Meat (Sterilisation and Staining) Regulations will provide adequate powers to local authorities to maintain effective supervision of establishments handling meat unfit for human consumption; and whether any consultations have taken place with local authorities about the resources available to them to enforce the regulations.
§ Mrs. FennerThe proposed Meat (Sterilisation and Staining) Regulations should, with strict enforcement by local authorities, provide a sound basis for the control of trade in unfit meat. There have been full consultations on the proposals with all interested parties, including the local authority associations.