§ Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will make a statement on the molecular structures of(a) milk products, (b) meat and (c) fish which has been microwaved;
(2) if he will make a statement on the presence of the amino acids D-proline and cis-hydroxyproline in food which has been microwaved.
§ Mr. MacleanMicrowaving is simply one method of heating food. I am not aware of any good evidence that changes in food brought about by microwave heating would not also be brought about by other methods producing equivalent amounts of heat.
I understand that the account of the research carried out at the University of Vienna and reported in The Lancet of 9 December was very incomplete. It failed to mention that a very small milk sample was microwaved at full power in a sealed tube to an unknown temperature (probably well in excess of 100 deg C) until it was brown. This heat treatment was far more severe than that received by other samples with which it was compared and bears no relation whatever to the way consumers would heat milk in the kitchen.