§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what information restaurants and take-away food outlets are required to publish in relation to the presence of genetically modified foods and food products in the meals they supply; how they are able to find out about such a presence in(a) their ingredients and (b) the food which the animals which produced it were fed on; what the penalties are for non-compliance with these requirements; which enforcement authorities are responsible for ensuring compliance; how many prosecutions have been brought for failing to comply with the regulations; what the outcome was in each of those cases; and what estimate he makes of the total cost to date to (i) industry in implementing and (ii) public funds in enforcing this legislation. [85833]
§ Ms BlearsCurrent labelling regulations require food sold to the final consumer or to mass caterers to be labelled as genetically modified if an ingredient contains novel genetic material (DNA or protein). There are no requirements to label products from animals fed GM feed. In the United Kingdom, these requirements also extend to food sold in catering establishments where information on the extent to which GM ingredients are used is provided to customers on demand.
Enforcement of the Genetically Modified and Novel Food (Labelling) (England) Regulations 2000 is a matter for the local authorities, with the penalty on conviction under these regulations being a fine not exceeding level five on the standard scale. Parallel arrangements apply in other of parts of the UK. Compliance checks are usually carried out as part of routine premises inspections and no specific costs are recorded for the enforcement of these regulations. There have been no prosecutions to date. No details of the actual costs incurred by the hospitality industry have been received in recent consultations, but the total cost to the catering industry was estimated at £l to £2 million in the regulatory impact assessment for the Genetically Modified and Novel Food (Labelling) (England) Regulations 2000.