§ Mr. David Steelasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will ensure that poultry will not have to be degutted in a continuing process as required in the EEC Directive 71/118, in view of the report of the Food Research Institute.
§ Mr. StrangI would refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 13th January by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland to the hon. Member for Moray and Nairn (Mrs. Ewing). The research to which reference is made was not directed primarily at public health considerations but at the comparative keeping quality of eviscerated and uneviscerated poultry at relatively low temperatures. In that context it was also concerned with the avoidance of contamination in processing plants. The research did not touch on the health dangers of cross-contamination when birds are eviscerated in food shops, to which my right hon. Friend referred on 13th January.
The EEC poultry meat directives are, of course, designed to safeguard public health.—[Vol. 903, c. 111–12.]