§ Mr. PaiceTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the surveillance project in the Memorandum of Understanding with the French Government, indicating(a) how the identification of animals related to those born 201W after 1 January 1996 will be achieved, (b) if the animals so identified are removed from the food chain on what basis the owner will be compensated and (c) in the case of animals so identified which are still in useful production if they will be prematurely slaughtered as part of the project. [101073]
§ Ms Quin[holding answer 2 December 1999]: Under the surveillance proposed, State Veterinary Service (SVS) officials will identify the farms on which BSE cases born after 1 January 1996 were born. They will then investigate on those farms both the potential source of the infection and which other animals born around the same time might have been exposed to it.
Animals over 30 months are not eligible for entry into the food chain but can be slaughtered with compensation under the over thirty months scheme. The occasions when animals born around the same time as a BSE case are themselves under 30 months are expected to be very rare, but they will be restricted and monitored.
In these respects, the Memorandum of Understanding records action which HMG was in any case proposing to undertake.