§ Mr. Warrenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if his Department has instituted checks on the import of meat and animal feed stuffs from the USA to ensure that none is contaminated by PBB.
§ Mr. StrangEarly in 1973 polybrominated biphenyls were accidentally supplied, in place of a feed supplement, to a feeding stuffs manufacturer in the State of Michigan, USA, which in consequence sold contaminated feed to local farmers. The herds affected were subsequently quarrantined, many were slaughtered, contaminated produce was destroyed, and monitoring against the presence of PBB still continues. The effect was confined to Michigan, and the United States Department of Agriculture has confirmed that there have been no known exports of contaminated animal products from Michigan to the United Kingdom since that time. In these circumstances I have not considered it necessary to institute any special checks on meat and feeding stuffs from the USA, but there are powers under the Imported Food Regulations 1968 to prevent the import of food which is unfiit for human consumption.