HC Deb 12 February 1953 vol 511 cc65-6W
91. Mr. Hurd

asked the Minister of Health if he is satisfied, after taking the advice of the Medical Research Council and the Agricultural Research Council, that there will be no risk to the public if the use of penicillin and other therapeutic substances is freely allowed in the feeding of pigs and other livestock; and, particularly, whether any traces of these substances could remain in meat supplied to the public.

Miss Hornsby-Smith

My right hon. Friend is advised that there would be no risk to the public if penicillin and certain other antibiotics were included, in suitable controlled quantities, in the diet of fattening pigs and possibly table poultry. He is also advised that the quantities needed would be minute-of the order of 2-20 parts in a million and that there would remain in the meat no traces of a kind that would entail any risk to the consumer.