§ 36. Mr. Edelmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what inspection he has made within the last three months of imported Japanese mackerel, in the light of the occurrence of Minamata disease transmitted by mercury-polluted fish.
§ Mr. AlisonJapanese mackerel, in common with all other foods imported into this country for sale for human consumption, is subject to inspection under the Imported Food Regulations 1968, which require such foods to be sound, wholesome and fit for human consumption. In addition, the Working Party on the Monitoring of Foodstuffs for Heavy Metals which was set up by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1971 has already asked the Laboratory of the Government Chemist to carry out analyses of a wide variety of canned Japanese fish purchased from retail outlets together with additional samples supplied by the port health authorities. The preliminary results of this survey show that all the samples of mackerel examined had minimal levels of mercury—less than 0.1 ppm. There is, therefore, no evidence to suggest that the levels of mercury found in fish imported from Japan present any hazard to the public health.