§ 49. Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on steps to improve the health and hygiene standards in the agriculture and food industries.
§ Mr. RyderThe Government attach the highest priority to ensuring food safety. Our policy has been and will remain to take such steps—in the form of prompt action coupled with advice to consumers—as are shown to be necessary. Recent examples of this include: a wide ranging set of measures dealing with salmonella in eggs and poultry and covering all stages of the food chain; guidance to the public on salmonella in eggs and on listeria; and the setting up of an independent expert committee to make recommendations on the microbiological safety of food. We shall shortly be launching an education campaign of food hygiene in the home.
We shall continue to act promptly on the findings of our extensive system of food surveillance and any other matters that come to light through scientific research and assessment.