§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent representations he has received from(a) right hon. and hon. Members and (b) other individuals and organisations concerning the proposed European draft directive on dietary supplements; how many of those representations in each case have been broadly in favour of allowing such supplements to continue to be widely available to consumers; and how many have endorsed calls for the introduction of restrictions upon the sale of such products.
§ Mr. SoamesResponses to the consultation exercise earlier this year on the EC discussion paper on this subject, including those from consumers, enforcement authorities, the health food trade and manufacturers, generally favoured EC regulation in this area. Since then, from 1 April this year, the Department has received 147 representations from right hon. and hon. Members on behalf of their constituents, many of whose letters have been expressed indentical terms. Sixty-two letters have
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Member state Common wheat Feed wheat Total 18,430 153 1 Total does not add due to rounding. Currently there are around 6.64 million tonnes of common wheat and 200,000 tonnes of feed wheat in intervention in the EC.
Cereals purchased into intervention must meet the minimum quality standards as prescribed in EC Commission regulation 689/92. They are purchased at the intervention buying-in price applicable at the time of delivery, to which must be added the actual costs of physically taking the stocks into store. However, as some of this wheat has been in intervention for several years, it is not possible to estimate, with any degree of accuracy, the costs associated with purchasing it into intervention.