§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he accepts the recommendations for additional research on salmonella in his Department's joint report with the Department of Health and the British Egg Information Council; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe Government devote substantial resources to research on food safety. We have now re-examined carefully the coverage of the existing programmes and the research needs newly identified in the joint report.
Accordingly new research amounting to £1 million annually is being commissioned to cover the recommendations in the report relating to the possible contamination of eggs and the pathogenicity of the salmonella organisms as well as the growth and survival of the pathogen in processed eggs and egg products. The programmes will draw on the expertise available at my Department's central veterinary laboratory, at the institute of animal health of the agriculture and food research council and at the food research associations.