§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on how many cases in each of the last two years of(a) BSE-infected material and (b) TB-infected material have been discovered to be in livestock imported into this country; and if he will list the country of origin for each case. [107380]
§ Ms Quin[holding answer 31 January 2000]: In the last two years, there have been two cases of BSE in imported livestock. One was an animal imported from France in 1994 and the other an animal imported from the Netherlands in 1996. Because of their long stay in the UK, it is not possible to determine whether the animals became infected before or after importation.
With respect to TB, in 1998, 10 cattle imported into Great Britain from Ireland were disclosed as reactors to the tuberculin test at a 60-day post-import check test. The figure for 1999 is seven, all from Ireland.