HC Deb 13 January 1989 vol 144 cc789-90W
Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his latest estimate of the extent of salmonella enteritidis infection in the national laying flock.

Mr. Donald Thompson

The reporting of isolations of salmonella in food producing animals is required under the Zoonoses Order 1975. During 1988 there were 20 reports of the isolation of salmonella enteritidis in commercial table egg producing flocks.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his estimate of the current level of egg consumption; and what was the level of consumption on 1 December 1988.

Mr. Ryder

Based on reports from retailers, egg packers and producers, I estimate that overall demand for eggs fell below normal levels for the time of year by under 10 per cent. in the week ending 3 December, by about 30 per cent in the week ending 10 December and by about 50 per cent. in the week ending 17 December. I estimate that overall demand is now about 10-20 per cent. below normal levels.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries arid Food what is his estimate of the number of hens still within the laying cycle that have been culled weekly since 1 December 1988; and what is the total number of hens culled for which compensation has been claimed since the inauguration of the scheme to date.

Mr. Donald Thompson

I am aware that producers have been culling hens earlier in the laying cycle, but I have no firm information on the number involved. Culling under the slaughter of hens scheme commenced this week. By Wednesday evening 11 January, 54,000 hens had been slaughtered.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he has received any representations concerning compensation for laying hens culled before his announcement of the compensation scheme on 19 December.

Mr. Donald Thompson

Yes. Only applications submitted under the scheme, over which proper financial control can be exercised, may be considered for assistance.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many inspections were carried out by his officials of(a) feed processing plants, (b) feed processing plants producing chicken food and (c) egg-producing farms in each of the last five years; how many were found to be sub-standard, for each of the last five years; and how many prosecutions there were for each category in each of the last five years.

Mr. Donald Thompson

Details of inspections carried out at processing plants producing animal protein for incorporation into animal feedingstuffs, including for chickens, and the samplings found to be salmonella postive over the last five years are as follows:

Inspections Number of first and subsequent postive samples
1984 240 80
1985 217 52
1986 122 26
1987 181 26
19881 140 19
1 Provisional.

If sampling of a plant's production reveals salmonella contamination a notice is served requiring compliance with the bacteriological standard within a time limit. Failure to comply without lawful authority or excuse constitutes an offence. In the cases where resampling still revealed contamination this was not considered to be wilful failure and was therefore not appropriate to bring prosecutions.

Regarding egg producing farms, since there is currently no simple, rapid and sensitive test available for salmonella there is no routine monitoring carried out. However, the recently issued code of practice for commerical layers sets out routine procedures for bacteriological monitoring of birds and hygienic production of eggs.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what procedures are currently being followed to test for salmonella in the egg-laying flock.

Mr. Donald Thompson

Since there is currently no simple, rapid and sensitive test available for salmonella there is no routine monitoring of laying flocks carried out by officials.

The recently issued code of practice for commerical laying flocks, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House, sets out routine procedures for the bacteriological monitoring of birds and hygienic production of eggs.

Mr. Fisher

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether it is his intention to review the specification for salmonella contamination in eggs and poultry.

Mr. Donald Thompson

There is no specification for salmonella contamination in eggs and poultry. The reporting of isolations of salmonella in food producing animals is required under the Zoonoses Order 1975.