§ Mr. Allen McKayTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give, by each local authority area, the number of poultry keepers who have had hens culled because of salmonella and the number of hens culled in each case.
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§ Mr. Donald ThompsonIt is not my Department's policy to divulge information which could be used to deduce the identity of individual flock owners who have had hens culled or whose flocks have been compulsorily slaughtered because of salmonella. This risk would be inherent if the information were supplied by each local authority area as requested.
The following tables set out the information for the United Kingdom as a whole.
Hen Culling Scheme (closing date for applications 5 January 1989) Number of applications1 Number of hens culled 44 372,120 1 Each from a separate establishment.
Compulsory Slaughter of Flocks infected with Invasive Salmonella organisms (with effect from 1 March 1989 in Great Britain) Number of birds in each flock slaughtered 4,263 35,369 489 20,227 65,249 419 53 49,279 16,537 2,300 6,580 14,226 51 17,743 80,000 Total 312,785