§ Lord Northfieldasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they can confirm that farmed deer imported from Hungary have passed the TB tests of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food but have subsequently been found to be carrying the disease; how many infected deer have been detected at points of entry to the United Kingdom; and whether they will give firm dates for the introduction of improved checks on entry and for making TB in deer a notifiable disease in line with provisions relating to cattle.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Trumpington)Some deer imported into this country in 1985 under Hungarian certification were subsequently found to be infected with tuberculosis, and all were traced. Our import requirements at that time included pre-export testing by the country of origin and quarantine but not testing on arrival. Following the 1985 incident, the import controls were strengthened to require more stringent pre-export isolation and testing and post-import tuberculosis testing and since January 1986 no case of tuberculosis has been detected in imported deer. The Government are preparing legislation to make tuberculosis in deer a notifiable disease and requiring the marking of farmed deer for identification purposes and the keeping of movement records. These measures will be introduced as soon as possible and we shall be writing to interested organisations about them very shortly. Discussions are also well advanced with the industry about the introduction of a voluntary tuberculosis accreditation scheme.
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