§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many slaughtered farm animals in each year since 1990 had sulphonamides present above the maximum permitted levels. [54665]
§ Mr. RookerThe Veterinary Medicines Directorate is responsible for a large scale random sampling surveillance programme for residues of veterinary medicines in meat. Under the National Surveillance Scheme samples which reflect the supply profile of red meat to the consumer are taken at randomly selected slaughterhouses and on-farm.
The presence of sulphonamides in cattle, sheep and pigs is specifically monitored using a multi-residue method.
1153WDirective 86/469/EEC, which until the end of 1997 prescribed the number of samples tested for each substance, required a greater proportion of pigs to be
Year Cattle Greater than MRL Sheep Greater than MRL Pig Greater than MRL ℅ pigs greater than MRL 1990 0 0 0 0 1,210 61 5.04 1991 0 0 0 0 1,207 46 3.81 1992 38 0 68 0 867 26 3.00 1993 103 0 98 0 1,193 19 1.59 1994 111 1 139 0 1,214 23 1.90 1995 109 0 126 0 1,210 16 1.32 1996 89 0 93 0 1,107 18 1.62 1997 77 1 80 0 1,135 17 1.50 In addition, the microbiological assay (FPT) which is used for the wider surveillance of antimicrobial compounds will identify the presence of sulphonamides in cattle, sheep and pigs where concentrations are well in excess of the permitted levels. The results from this survey are:
Sulphonamides FPT 1991 to 1997—Great Britain Year Samples Greater than MRL 1990 0 0 1991 34,081 164 1992 37,186 149 1993 35,590 19 1994 34,037 210 1995 33,931 36 1996 31,619 16 1997 32,444 15 1Pigs 2(8 pig, 1 cow, 1 goat) 3(5 pig, 1 cow)