§ Mr. Hoosonasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations his Department has made recently to the Agricultural Commissioner at Brussels on EEC Directive 71/118, requiring all poultry to be killed, defeathered and degutted in a continuing process, in view of the fact that degutting before a bird has aged leaves a bird with very little taste.
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§ Mr. StrangAmong many aspects of the directive that were discussed before the Council of Ministers agreed to an amending directive (75/431) in July last was the requirement that, except for farm gate sales to consumers, all poultry would be slaughtered and dressed under controlled conditions of hygiene in an approved slaughterhouse. Whereas the original directive provided for this requirement to be applied by February 1976, the amending directive extended the time limit under specified conditions to August 1981. Farm gate sales to consumers remain unaffected. Flavour is a subjective matter, and I could not agree that the vast majority of birds consumed have very little taste.