§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he requested advice from the Food Standards Agency concerning the safety of French beef imported into the United Kingdom; what advice he has received; and if he will publish it. [144335]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 8 January 2001]: In response to requests from my Department and elsewhere, last autumn the FSA advised that there is no scientific justification for a ban on imports of legally sold French beef in view of the levels of incidence of BSE in France, the specified risk material controls and the ban on the sale of over-thirty-months-old beef. The agency regularly publishes information on its internet site—http://www.foodstandards.gov.uk/.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the quantity of beef produced from French cattle imported into Britain from other EU countries in the last 12 months. [144319]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 8 January 2001]: Following the introduction of the single market, official overseas trade statistics on intra-Community trade are compiled from the Intrastat Survey of traders run by HM Customs and Excise.
While all traders provide the country of despatch of imports into the UK, the country of origin is provided only on a voluntary basis by a minority of traders.
As a consequence, we do not have reliable statistical information on the quantity of French beef imported from other member states.