§ Mr. Martyn JonesTo ask the Minster of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what priorities to improve competitiveness have been announced since March 1995 as a result of the LINK programme on agro-food quality; and if he will make a statement. [10538]
§ Mrs. BrowningSince March 1995, nine projects within the agro-food quality Link programme have been successfully completed. These collaborative projects involved the efforts of 11 United Kingdom academic groups and 17 companies. The projects have contributed industrially valuable, underpinning knowledge in such topics as determining the importance of irrigation timing to the storage quality of root vegetables, the development and release of flavour in low-fat foods and an investigation of the factors contributing to the eating quality of meat. The results from these projects are now being used by the industrial partners from the project consortia.