§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the food products he is testing for the presence of dioxin; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Ryder[holding answer 28 May 1989]: My Ministry's food science laboratory has an ongoing research programme on dioxins designed to address a number of issues. Human breast milk has been examined as part of an international collaborative exercise: the analysis of composite food samples is under way in order to help confirm which classes of food are associated with dioxins: and individual retail purchases of a range of fatty foods such as milk, meat products and fish are also being examined. Finally, preliminary studies on the migration of dioxins into food from paper-based products such as milk cartons, tea bags and coffee filter papers have recently been carried out following reports that certain bleached paper products may contain dioxins. Results will be published as soon as possible.