HC Deb 13 February 1976 vol 905 cc458-9W
Mr. Cyril Smith

asked the Secretary of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will list all the firms and manufacturing plants to which his Department sent the document "The Proposed Protein Processing Order" which is dated October 1974; and which of these companies gave a response;

(2) if he has any plans to implement the proposals that were set out in the paper "The Proposed Protein Order" prepared by his Department in October 1974.

Mr. Bishop

The document referred to set out our preliminary thoughts on the need to control animal protein intended for inclusion in feeding stuffs. It was circulated for comment to the representative trade organisations. In the light of their views a further paper was circulated in August 1975. Copies were also sent to individual firms who asked for them, but we kept no record of their names. No comments were received direct from individual firms; we assume they channelled their views through their trade association. We are now considering the comments we received. The next step will be to circulate further details on the licensing of the processing plants.