§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last placed an item on the agenda of the European Union Agricultural Minister's meetings relating to study of the hygiene and operating conditions of abattoirs in each of the member states. [107120]
§ Ms QuinWe supported the request by the Danish and Dutch delegations, at the June 1999 Agriculture Council, that the Commission review the operation of the meat inspection system established by the EU Fresh Meat Directive with the aim of basing inspection methods more on risk assessment principles. In response, the Commission undertook to carry out a wide-ranging review of the current meat inspection system. Encouragingly, discussions between my officials and Commission representatives on the ongoing exercise to consolidate and simplify existing EU food and veterinary legislation, including the meat hygiene Directives, have also indicated that the Commission sees risk-based inspection systems as the way forward.
We have also drawn to the Commission's attention the concerns of the farming and meat sectors about over-regulation of the meat slaughtering and processing industries and about the apparent lack of uniformity in individual member states' application of Community rules on charging for meat inspections. We will continue to take every opportunity to press the Commission to modernise meat hygiene controls and to ensure that trade in the EU is carried out on a level playing field.