§ Baroness Byfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to Written Answer by the Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 15 January (WA 148), how many of the nine plants affected have rectified their controls; 140WA how many of those nine have resumed imports into the United Kingdom; and what special extra inspections are in place in the United Kingdom to check their output. [HL2480]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)Under European Union rules the responsibility for the removal of specified risk materials (SRM) from meat before it is marketed or traded rests with the slaughterhouse of origin (with the exception of vertebral column, which may be removed later in the processing chain). None of the nine United Kingdom plants in question was responsible for the importation into the UK of meat containing SRM, and the question of their rectifying their controls does not therefore arise. Each plant remains free to import meat from other EU member states or from third countries. However, each of the nine plants remains under official supervision (by the Meat Hygiene Service in Great Britain and by the Veterinary Service of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland); and all consignments of imported carcass beef arriving at licensed premises in the UK remain subject to checks by the relevant authorities.