§ Mr. TylerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the current throughput of carcase remains from the over-30-month slaughter programme; and how many weeks it will take to clear the backlog at this rate. [7739]
§ Mr. BaldryThe slaughter rate of cattle under the over-30-month scheme progressively increased through the autumn to around 60,000 animals per week by the middle of November. This rate would have cleared the backlog declared by farmers as at 2 November under the Government's registration system by Christmas, but animals are not being presented for slaughter at levels consistent with the number registered.
Abattoirs have, therefore, been permitted to take both registered and unregistered OTMS animals provided priority is given to registered animals. In the week ending 8 December just over 40,000 OTMS animals were presented for slaughter against a disposal capacity of around 60,000 animals. Only half of these were registered as part of the backlog which is a good indicator that clearance has almost been achieved.