§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what controls exist on the importation of chickens which have been fed on meat and bone meal. [43218]
§ Mr. RookerThe UK is the only EC country to have prohibited the feeding of mammalian meat and bone meal (MBM) to all farmed livestock, including poultry. MBM produced to EC rendering standards can still be fed to non-ruminants in other Member States. All poultry must be imported into the UK in compliance with detailed 249W animal health rules. These rules do not include any provisions directly relating to the feed given to the poultry in the country of origin.
§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the maximum percentage of water allowed in chickens imported for sale. [43219]
§ Mr. Rooker[holding answer 2 June 1998]: For frozen whole chickens the standards laid down in the EC Poultrymeat Market Standards Regulations must be met by both domestic production and imports. These require that levels do not exceed the minium amounts technically unavoidable for water absorption during processing. These values are dependent upon the method of chilling and which of the two methods of analyses laid down in the Regulations are used. For the drip test method up to 1.5% of the weight of an air chilled chicken may be water; 3.3% for air spray chilling; and 5.1% for immersion chilling. For the chemical test, the weights are 0.1% air chilling; 2.0% for air spray chilling; and 4.5% for immersion chilling. If these limits are exceeded, the chicken must be labelled 'Water content exceeds EEC limit'.
Following the recent adoption of an amendment to the Council Regulation on poultrymeat marketing, the Commission is starting work on detailed rules on chicken cuts. Meanwhile the provisions of the Food Labelling Regulations apply which require that added water exceeding 5% of the finished product should be declared in the ingredients list.