§ Mr. SayeedTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action the Government are taking to facilitate the establishment of porcine-only rendering plants. [80243]
392W
§ Mr. RookerRepresentations have been made by the pig industry and the Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC) to allow porcine MBM to be fed to poultry on the condition that processing takes place in rendering plants dedicated to pig waste. The existing ban was put in place on the recommendation of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, and the Government continue to base their handling of BSE on the advice of that Committee.
Before we would be prepared to ask SEAC to look at the use of porcine MBM for export or poultry feed purposes the industry itself will need to address the key issues of how monitoring at all stages of production and distribution would be carried out to avoid the possibility of cross-contamination.