§ Mr. CorbettTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if she will order an investigation into whether the American imported product Latero Flora and its active ingredient bacillus laterosporus meets the requirements of a novel food;
(2) what was the result of the independent assay carried out by the Government chemist on the product Latero Flora in relation to its active ingredient bacillus laterosporus;
(3) what approval under the Food Safety Act 1990 has been given for the American imported product Latero Flora and its active ingredient bacillus laterosporus;
(4) what recent tests her Department has carried out into the product Latero Flora and its active ingredient bacillus laterosporus; and with what results.
§ Mr. SackvilleLatero Flora was the subject of a recent, voluntary, application for approval as a novel food product. The independent, expert, Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes agreed that it should be classed as a novel food, but concluded that additional information was required before a decision could be reached; the manufacturer has been asked to provide that additional data.
The Department has neither carried out nor commissioned tests or analyses of Latero Flora. It is understood, however, that an analysis was recently commissioned, by a private organisation, from the Laboratory of the Government Chemist; neither the Department nor the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has seen a report of that analysis.
§ Mr. CorbettTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will order an investigation into the promotional literature for the imported American product Latero Flora and its active ingredient bacillus laterosporus.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe Medicines Control Agency investigates all reports of unlicensed medicines and their advertising, labelling and sales and takes appropriate action to stop illegal activity as soon as possible. Following a reference in October 1993, the agency secured assurances the following month from the suppliers of Latero Flora in the United Kingdom that the promotional literature complained of would no longer be used. The agency's wider investigation continues.