§ Miss Geraldine SmithTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to introduce legislation to require animal feed containing GM ingredients or derivatives to be labelled. [96209]
§ Ms Quin[holding answer 28 October 1999]: Legislation on animal feed is harmonised in the EU and the Government cannot therefore take unilateral action on compulsory labelling. This is expected to be covered in a forthcoming Novel Feeds Regulation, which the Minister has been pressing the Commission to bring forward as soon as possible. In the meantime, the Government are exploring the possibility of voluntary national labelling arrangements with the feed trade, farmers and retailers.