§ Mr. PaiceTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the impact of the ban on pithing on the future of small abattoirs. [142890]
§ Ms Stuart[holding answer 18 December 2000]: I am advised on questions of food safety by the Food Standards Agency (FSA). The ban on pithing is a requirement of a recent European Union decision on specified risk material, which introduced new EU-wide rules for the protection of both human and animal health from the risks of BSE.
The FSA carried out a full public consultation on proposals to implement the pithing ban. All licensed red meat slaughterhouses were consulted. A number of the responses received raised concerns that many small abattoirs would be unable safely to slaughter animals without pithing unless structural changes to their premises were made and maintained that many of these would be unable to afford the costs of such changes.
The FSA agrees that changes in structure or equipment, as well as in working practices, may be needed to enable abattoirs to comply with a pithing ban without putting worker safety at risk. However, the FSA considers that alternatives to pithing should be available at reasonable cost in most cases and therefore sees no fundamental reason why the need to make such changes should affect the future of small abattoirs. Nevertheless the FSA is monitoring the introduction of the pithing ban in small abattoirs in order to ensure that any significant problems are reported and investigated.