§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many sheep and in which months since April 1986, have been monitored for radioactivity in slaughterhouses in England.
§ Mr. RyderAs promised in the Government's response to the Agriculture Committee's report, "Chernobyl: the Government's Reaction", we have been examining the feasibility of monitoring for radioactivity in English slaughterhouses. An initial pilot study was carried out in December 1988 involving the monitoring of 40 sheep carcases at one slaughterhouse. A more extensive trial is now under-way at six slaughterhouses, as part of which 314 sheep carcases were monitored in February and a further 442 had been monitored by 15 March.