§ Dr. StrangTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to her answer of 25 November,Official Report, columns 120-22, if she will provide the most recent figures she has available giving the total number of cattle testing positive for brucellosis; how many contracted the disease outside the United Kingdom and from which countries; how many were sero-positive before being imported into the United Kingdom and if any of those originate from herds officially declared to be brucellosis free; if the cattle testing sero-positive were subject to tests for the disease within 30 days of their export to this country; if the certification which accompanied each consignment of infected cattle provided an accurate account of the health of each animal in the consignments bound for the United Kingdom; and if the certification was fully compliant with the EC rules in other respects.
§ Mr. SoamesI wish to take this opportunity to correct the information I gave in my reply of 25 November. The number of cattle which had reacted positively to serological tests for brucellosis at the time the answer was given was 29 not 21. There have been no further positive reactions since then.
As indicated in my earlier reply detailed epidemiological investigations to determine the source of infection are continuing. It is not therefore possible to say if any of the cattle contracted the disease outside the United Kingdom. All the imported animals were accompanied by certification confirming that they originated from officially brucellosis-free herds and had been tested negative for brucellosis within the 30 days prior to export. We have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the certification, which complied fully with EC rules.