§ Miss Emma NicholsonTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy to ban imports of beef from those countries where testing indicates that the use of hormones and other illegal growth promoters is widespread.
§ Mr. MacleanThe use of growth-promoting hormones in beef production in the European Community is illegal. All imports of beef from third countries must be accompanied by suitable guarantees to the effect that hormones have not been used in their production.
All beef-exporting countries are required to establish a residue testing programme approved by the EC standing veterinary committee and their meat plants are subject to inspection by Commission officials. Testing programme results are then subject to further scrutiny at Community level to ensure that compliance with EC standards is maintained.
§ Miss Emma NicholsonTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy to increase the proportion of imported beef which his Department tests for hormones and other illegal growth promoters.
§ Mr. MacleanThe Ministry already has a very extensive programme of surveillance for veterinary drug residues,478W including the banned hormones and other illegal growth promoters, and both home-produced and imported meats are covered. None the less, the surveillance programmes are under continuing review and if there is evidence of a particular problem we will of course consider whether the level of monitoring in that area should be increased.