§ Mr. Peter DuncanTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff(a) are employed examining meat imports into the United Kingdom; and (b) were so employed in each of the last six years. [32196]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 4 February 2002]: All products of animal origin imported from third countries into the UK must enter at designated UK Border
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Rejected consignments of imported meat and meat products from January 1997 to June 2001 Country 1997 1998 1999 2000 January to June 2001 Total by country Argentina 2 3 2 17 4 28 Australia 1 3 10 1 1 16 Bangladesh 2 1 0 2 0 5 Barbados 1 0 0 0 0 1 Belarus 0 0 0 0 1 1 Botswana 0 0 0 1 2 3 Brazil 0 7 8 13 12 40 Brunei 0 0 0 2 0 2 Cameroon 4 1 4 1 0 10 Canada 3 1 3 3 1 11 Chile 0 0 1 1 0 2 China 0 1 1 4 7 13 Colombia 0 1 0 0 0 1 Congo 0 0 1 0 0 1 Croatia 0 1 1 0 0 2 Cyprus 0 0 2 0 0 2 Egypt 1 1 1 1 0 4 Ethiopia 2 0 1 0 1 4 Estonia 0 1 0 0 0 1 Gambia 1 4 3 2 11 21 Ghana 27 9 7 7 8 58 Grenada 0 0 0 1 1 2 Guinea 1 0 0 0 0 1 Guyana 0 1 0 0 0 1 Honduras 0 1 0 0 0 1 Hong Kong 3 2 5 5 3 18 Hungary 1 0 0 1 0 2 India 1 0 0 0 3 4 Indonesia 1 1 1 0 0 3 Israel 0 0 0 1 0 1 Ivory Coast 0 0 5 3 1 9 Japan 5 6 6 6 1 24 Jordan 0 0 1 1 1 3 Kenya 1 3 3 0 1 8 Korea 4 1 4 1 2 12 Kuwait 0 1 0 1 0 2 Inspection Posts (BIPs) where they are subject to veterinary inspections. The inspection services at the BIP are the responsibility of the local authority or port health authority and it is for the appropriate local authority to deploy inspection staff at the BIP in response to the volume and nature of products imported through the BIP. For this reason the exact number of inspectors engaged in checking imports can vary from day-to-day. Most of these staff also undertake a range of other duties. As at November 2001 the total number of local authority staff employed at BIPs was 196 comprising 97 Environmental Health Officers, 48 Official Veterinary Surgeons and 51 support staff. Figures are not available for previous years.
HM Customs officers also carry out checks for the presence of illegally imported meat and other animal products in passengers' luggage. In addition, State Veterinary Service staff are also empowered to deal with illegally imported animal products when they are found.
§ Mr. Peter DuncanTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many consignments of imported meat products have been rejected on inspection, and from which countries they originated, in each of the last five years. [33070]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 5 February 2002]: The table provided covers rejected consignments of red meat and red meat products from third countries from January 1997 to June 2001. Information is not yet available for the second half of 2001. The total number of consignments rejected is 119 in 1997, 140 in 1998, 175 in 1999, 196 in 2000 and 149 in the first six months of 2001.
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Rejected consignments of imported meat and meat products from January 1997 to June 2001 Country 1997 1998 1999 2000 January to June 2001 Total by country Lebanon 1 1 0 0 1 3 Liberia 0 0 0 1 0 1 Liechtenstein 0 0 0 1 0 1 Malawi 0 0 0 0 1 1 Malaysia 5 8 6 5 1 25 Malta 0 0 1 0 0 1 Mauritius 0 0 0 1 1 2 Mexico 0 1 0 0 7 8 Morocco 0 0 0 0 1 1 Namibia 0 0 4 0 0 4 Nepal 0 0 0 1 0 1 New Zealand 1 4 5 5 2 17 Nigeria 9 16 12 13 9 59 Oman 1 1 0 1 0 3 Pakistan 2 0 0 1 1 4 Philippines 0 1 1 2 1 5 Poland 0 1 0 0 0 1 Qatar 0 0 1 0 3 4 Russia 1 0 0 0 0 1 Saudi Arabia 3 1 2 0 3 9 Seychelles 0 0 1 0 1 2 Sierra Leone 3 1 0 0 0 4 Singapore 2 7 19 1 1 30 South Africa 5 10 2 3 1 21 Sri Lanka 0 1 1 0 0 2 St. Lucia 0 0 0 0 1 1 St. Vincent 0 0 0 0 1 1 Switzerland 0 1 4 2 0 7 Syria 0 0 0 1 0 1 Taiwan 0 1 1 3 4 9 Thailand 3 1 7 4 3 18 Trinidad and Tobago 0 1 0 0 0 1 Tunisia 0 0 1 0 0 1 Turkey 0 1 0 2 0 3 United Arab Emirates 3 9 9 5 5 31 United States of America 17 22 24 60 38 161 Uruguay 0 0 3 4 0 7 Vietnam 0 0 1 2 1 4 Yemen 0 0 0 0 1 1 Zambia 0 1 0 0 0 1 Zaire 1 0 0 0 0 1 Zimbabwe 1 0 0 3 0 4 Total by year 119 140 175 196 149
§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to improve the controls on the import and labelling of meat. [33931]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 6 February 2002]: Since April last year we have taken a range of initiatives aimed at improving our ability to prevent and detect illegal imports. These include better publicity and more effective intelligence gathering. These initiatives have been co-ordinated by officials in DEFRA, but involve other Departments such as HM Customs and Excise and the Food Standards Agency, and the local authorities who are responsible for controls at ports and airports.
The Food Standards Agency is pressing for changes to EU labelling rules to require country of origin labelling on a wider range of foods, particularly meat products. It is also pressing for changes that would prevent misleading 268W labelling by restricting the use of terms like "produce of…"to those foods where the main ingredients come from, and production processes occur in, the named place or country.