§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much infected meat has been imported into the UK from countries where foot and mouth disease is endemic since 1 February. [20777]
§ Mr. MorleyNone. EU and UK import rules do not permit entry of infected meat into the UK, and controls are in place to ensure that meat presented for checking on import is certified free of disease, including foot and mouth. When illegally imported meat is identified it is destroyed. It is not routinely tested for presence of disease agents. To our knowledge no imported meat infected with foot and mouth has ever been identified in the UK, including from countries where the disease is endemic.