§ Mr. Peartasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, what stocks of corned beef have been cooled in unchiorinated water; and whether he will require all future consignments of corned beef to be cooled in chlorinated water before acceptance.
§ Mr. SoamesA proportion of the Government's stocks held for defence purposes was purchased before chlorination of cooling water became a widespread practice. Records are not kept on the basis of whether chlorinated water was used. What matters is not whether the water is chlorinated, but whether it is hygienic. Accordingly, the Answer to the second part of the Question is, yes, whenever necessary.
§ Mr. Peartasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what quantities of corned beef were imported from International Packers factory, Industria Argentina Establishment 1A, without being cooled in chlorinated water.
§ Mr. SoamesI regret that I am unable to give this figure.
§ Sir Richard Glynasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much corned beef has been imported into the United Kingdom in the last five years; how much of this came from the Argentine; what is the weight of corned beef in the tins most usually imported from the Argentine; and how many tins of corned beef would represent a ton of corned beef imported from the Argentine.
§ Mr. Scott-HopkinsThe following is the information:
112W
(tons) — Total Imports From Argentina 1959 … … 58,300 24,400 1960 … … 40,700 18,500 1961 … … 50,000 21,400 1962 … … 54,800 24,300 1963 … … 48,300 23,500 The bulk of the imports are covered by two sizes of pack, the 61b. tin and the 12 oz. tin, and these are 373 and 2,986 respectively to the ton.