HC Deb 20 November 1991 vol 199 cc175-6W
Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress he has made in his negotiations in the Council of Ministers in introducing Community-wide measures to control salmonella in poultry units.

Mr. Maclean

We have continued to press for Community-wide controls on salmonella to be introduced as soon as possible. The European Commission has now published proposals for a regulation on the control of

differentiating loans for terms of more or less than five years. However, data are available for loans for more or less than two years—the standard system of national accounts split short term v. long term—for the countries shown in the table. These are published in OECD Financial Statistics Part 3, Non-Financial Enterprises Financial Statements balance sheets. The figures are for amounts outstanding in the latest year available, as indicated.

salmonella and certain other zoonoses throughout the European Community. This is a significant step forward and will provide a useful framework for discussions.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his current policy on slaughtering salmonella-infected egg-laying poultry flocks.

Mr. Maclean

Poultry laying flocks in which the presence of salmonella enteritidis has been confirmed are required to be compulsorily slaughtered with compensation. On 31 October we announced that owners of poultry laying flocks infected with salmonella enteritidis and poultry breeding flocks infected with salmonella enteritidis or salmonella typhimurium would be given the option of sending their eggs for pasteurisation. This option will become available when pasteurisation plants have applied for, and have been granted, approval to process eggs from infected flocks.