§ Mrs. GormanTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will estimate the number of small egg producers which have gone out of business since the introduction of the Zoonoses Order 1989;
(2) what is his estimate of the number of egg producers which have gone out of business since 1 January.
§ Mrs. GormanTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he has taken to allow United Kingdom egg producers to compete fairly with other European Community egg producers since the introduction of the Zoonoses Order of 1989.
§ Mr. MacleanThe European Commission are drafting proposed measures on salmonella in poultry including the establishment of effective controls at the points of production, to apply throughout the Community.
At present whilst imported eggs take a very small part of the market our exports have increased so far this year by over 90 per cent. compared with 1988. We are also developing an initiative to label British produced eggs as "British" to encourage consumers' confidence in British eggs.