§ Lord Vinsonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Hayman on 12th July (WA 33–34), whether the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food relies only on the standards laid down by the United Kingdom Register of Organic Food Standards (UKROFS) when awarding organic status; what steps they take to check the veracity of the scientific rationale used by UKROFS when drawing up such standards; and whether they will place a copy of the standards in the Library of the House. [HL3614]
§ Baroness HaymanOrganic status is not awarded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Producers, processors and importers of organic food are registered by private sector inspection bodies approved by UKROFS and, in a limited number of cases, by UKROFS itself. The inspection bodies, of which seven have been approved, must apply standards no less than those required by UKROFS. In general UKROFS standards are now set by Community legislation which is negotiated in the usual way. For organic crop products the UKROFS standards comply with those laid down by Council Regulation (EEC) 2092/91. For organic livestock and livestock products, existing national standards drawn 145WA up by UKROFS will shortly be replaced with standards complying with Council Regulation (EC) 1804/1999. We will arrange for copies of the existing UKROFS standards, and as soon as possible the revised ones for organic livestock and livestock products, to be placed in the Library of the House.