§ Mr. Georgeasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will make a statement on the recommendations of the Food Standards Committee in its report on sausages.
§ Mr. MaclayThe Committee recommended that there should be a statutory minimum standard of 65 per cent. meat content for sausages made wholly or mainly with pork, and 50 per cent. meat content for all other meat sausages. The Committee was not unanimous as to the meat content to be permitted in "pork" and "beef" sausages. The majority recommended that four-fifths of the meat content should be pork and beef respectively whereas the minority recommendation was that pork or beef sausages should contain the named meat only.
There is, I am advised, no known method so far of determining the proportions of pork or beef and other meat in a sausage and the majority recommendation would, therefore, be unenforceable. On the other hand the minority recommendation would conflict with long-established custom and trade practice in Scotland. I have decided, therefore, to take no action on the Committee's Report.