§ Mr. RookerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the current permissible uses of bonemeal in the United Kingdom; and if he will indicate those areas where bonemeal has been banned in the last five years. [10770]
§ Mrs. BrowningThe permitted uses for mammalian meat and bone meal are landfill, incineration and, provided the MBM is not derived from BSE suspects, specified bovine material, or animals slaughtered under the over-30-month scheme—non-agricultural fertilisers and pet food. Controls on the use of MBM have been progressively tightened in the light of experience and the latest available advice from the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, the Government's independent advisor on BSE issues. The controls introduced in the last five years are
1994—prohibition of all mammalian protein, including MBM, in ruminant feed;March 1996—prohibition on the feeding of MBM to all farmed livestock;April 1996—prohibition on the use of MBM as agricultural fertiliser; andAugust 1996—the banning, except in very tightly defined and controlled circumstances, of MBM from premises where livestock feed is produced, stored, or used.