§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much cheese from(a) the United Kingdom and (b) each other European Community country has been sold to Japan in 1989, 1990 and 1991, and at what price per tonne in £ sterling: and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. CurryThe most recent information on exports of cheese to Japan is set out below.
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1989 January-October 1990 Exporting Country Quantity (tonne) Value2 (£/tonne) Quantity (tonne) Value2 (£/tonne) Germany1 10,786 1,189 4,423 1,362 Italy 360 2,815 360 3,411 United Kingdom 3,833 1,698 2,145 1,367 Denmark 16,740 1,475 10,682 1,771 Spain — — — 1,431 Ireland — — 414 977 Portugal — — — — Greece — — — — 1 Excludes former GDR. 2 Average unit value: fob, net of export refunds and MCAs. Source: Eurostat.
§ Mr. MartlewTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will prohibit the sale of cheese made with the addition of the genetically engineered enzyme chymosin without it being identified as such on the label.
§ Mr. MacleanThe Food Advisory Committee considered very carefully whether labelling was necessary in this case and advised that it was not since the enzyme itself is identical to that obtained from traditional calf rennet and neither the source organism nor its genetic material would be present in the food. The FAC's guidelines on the labelling of food produced using genetic modification were published on 17 January for comment and I have placed a copy of these in the Library of the House.