§ Mrs. GormanTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the incidence of salmonella typhymurium currently being found in egg-laying flocks and on the rate at the same time last year.
§ Mr. MacleanThirty-three incidents of salmonella typhymurium in laying flocks (including pullets) were reported to the Ministry in the eight-week period ending on 26 October 1990, compared with eight such reports in the corresponding period in 1989. These figures relate to reports under the Zoonoses Orders and may include cases where the presence of salmonella typhymurium was not confirmed following a detailed on-farm investigation. Sixteen pullet and laying flocks infected with salmonella typhymurium have been compulsorily slaughtered in the first nine months of 1990, compared with 24 in 1989 following the introduction of the slaughter policy in April of that year.