§ Lord Rotherwickasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Whitty on 23 February (WA 38) on laboratory testing of illegal meat, how they assess the likelihood that illegal meat imports carry diseases or viruses. [HL2985]
§ Lord WhittyThe endemic nature of diseases and viruses in many countries around the world results in a continuous but low risk of infected meat reaching the country through illegal routes. This means that all such seizures are treated as an animal health risk and destroyed, by incineration, in the shortest possible time.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs produces Qualitative Risk Assessments following novel disease outbreaks overseas to assess the level of risk associated with particular meat or meat products, whether legally or illegally imported.
165WAIn addition we commissioned the Veterinary Laboratories Agency's "Risk Assessment for the Import of Meat and Meat Products Contaminated with Foot and Mouth Disease Virus into Great Britain and the Subsequent Exposure of GB Livestock" that was published as a work in progress in March 2003. The VLA have re-run this assessment taking into account of additional data, as well as producing similar assessments for three pig diseases—African Swine Fever, Classical Swine Fever and Swine Vesicular Disease. These assessments will be published in the summer.