§ Mr. PaiceTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to the Government's response to Recommendation 4 of his Red Tape Working Group on the Meat Industry, whether he intends unannounced visits to replace existing procedures or be additional to them. [113884]
§ Ms Quin[holding answer 10 March 2000]: A system of unannounced inspections is seen as integral to the introduction of a full Hazard Analysis Critical Control and Point approach as recommended by the Meat Industry Red Tape Working Group. They would therefore replace the current inspection system, but amendments to existing EU legislation are required before HACCP could be introduced. However, the Working Group recommended the earliest possible introduction of a regime of 361W unannounced, thorough, targeted inspections of plants. We are currently considering the costs and benefits of adding such a system to the existing controls.