§ Mr. CollinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what outbreaks of disease in animals in Cumbria have been linked to the imports of illegal meat products in the past five years. [64877]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 27 June 2002]: The Cumbria Foot and Mouth Disease Inquiry concluded that there is a strong likelihood that the foot and mouth virus that affected the UK during 2001 may have entered the country in an imported animal product—probably illegally imported meat. Prior to 2001, we are not aware of other disease outbreaks in Cumbria that have been linked to illegal meat imports.
The Government published an action plan on 28 March 2002 to reduce the risk of animal and plant disease entering the country and then threatening our public health, and livestock, agriculture and horticulture industries. The action plan includes undertaking a full risk assessment of the probability of illegal animal products reaching susceptible animals and causing disease, the final report of which will be delivered in the Autumn.