§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) whether he plans to restrict the use of animal blood in animal feed products;
(2) whether he is considering further restrictions on the feeding of animal by-products to ruminants;
(3) what evidence he has on the animal health implications of feeding ruminants with products containing animal blood.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonVarious pathogens can be transmitted by animal blood. Feeding ruminant animals with protein material, including blood, derived from ruminants has been prohibited since 18 July last year. This ban will remain in place unless processing methods are established which are sufficient to destroy the agent of bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
Blood from other animals fed to ruminants must be processed to the standards required by regulations under the Animal Health Act 1981.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) whether he intends to introduce legislation requiring the labelling of animal feeds with a list of ingredients;
(2) Whether he has any plans to introduce legislation requiring animal feed products containing animal blood to be labelled as such.
§ Mr. RyderThe European Council of Ministers is currently considering a proposal which will require suppliers of animal feeds containing more than one ingredient to declare the materials or categories of materials used in them.