§ Mr. SayeedTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer of 13 February,Official Report, column 94, what factors were taken into consideration by the Government in taking the decision not to publish details of individual brands sampled under the food surveillance programme.
§ Mr. RyderThe purpose of the sampling undertaken under the programme of the steering group of food surveillance is to carry out scientific surveys of particular issues; it is not an enforcement programme. Sampling programmes are necessarily selective and do not cover every item on the market. It would therefore be inequitable to report data on those brands included when others of equal quality are excluded.