§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for Health under what circumstances beef sourced from animals raised in France can be included in a product sold in Britain and labelled as British. [144354]
§ Ms Stuart[holding answer 8 January 2001]: Government guidelines issued last year make clear that if the place of origin of a food is not the same as the place of origin of its ingredients, additional information may need to be provided on the label to avoid misleading consumers. Failure to do this may result in contravention of existing legislation governing false and misleading labelling and presentation. The guidelines make clear in particular that products containing meat should not be described as "British" if they contain imported meat, but could be described as "made in Britain from …" with 553W either a specific (eg "French") or general (eg "imported") indication of the origin of the meat ingredients they contain. The United Kingdom has urged the European Commission to consider regulation of labelling of processed products containing beef as a matter of urgency and to bring forward proposals for consideration by the Council and the European Parliament.