§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what procedures common to all member states of the European Community exist for the inspection of eggs and chickens.
§ Mr. SoamesEuropean Community legislation requires inspections of chickens and eggs for various purposes including animal health, trade and consumer protection. Detailed arrangements for such inspections are usually a matter for the competent authority in each member state.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what procedures exist to ensure that where containers carrying imported eggs are subject to random sampling, such sampling includes eggs from throughout the container and not just from those areas of the container which are immediately accessible to inspection officials.
§ Mr. SoamesSampling arrangements are the same for both home produced and imported eggs. Arrangements take account of the need both to take representative samples and to facilitate the flow of trade.