§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what controls his Department has put in place in order to monitor any threat from the importation of cattle suspected of bovine TB. [123910]
§ Ms QuinUnder EU legislation, all cattle imported from another member state must come from a herd which is officially free of TB. They must be tested for TB within 30 days prior to import unless the member state is officially recognised as being free of TB. Once the cattle are imported, they are subject to random non-discriminatory inspections and to our TB monitoring programme, which is also governed by EU legislation. Cattle imported from countries outside the EU have to enter via an approved Border Inspection Post where they are subjected to clinical inspection immediately upon arrival. Such cattle must also have had a pre-export TB test and originate from a TB-free herd.