§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what opinion he has expressed on behalf of Her Majesty's Government on the European Economic Community proposal to increase the fat content of milk and skimmed milk.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe Commission's proposal to adjust some of the standards for the butterfat content of drinking milk would not affect the major part of our milk sales in the United Kingdom because the vast majority of our milk is sold with the butterfat level unadjusted as it comes from the cow. The Commission's proposal that the standard for semi-skimmed milk should be adjusted from 1.5–1.8 per cent. to 1.7–2.0 per cent. would, if adopted, apply to such milk in the United Kingdom. There are no proposals to adjust the existing standard for skimmed milk.
These are proposals which we have said we are prepared to consider; but we would not want to make changes which discouraged the consumption of drinking milk.