§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the final results of the research being carried out for the Food Standards Agency of the Veterinary Laboratories Agency into the level of scrapie infectivity after intestine processing for sausage casings to be(a) completed and (b) published. [64113]
§ Ms BlearsI am advised by the Food Standards Agency that work funded to date by the agency on sheep intestines has shown that not all the tissues that are most likely to contain scrapie infectivity are removed by the casings manufacturing process. A contract to carry out work to quantify the risk reduction has not yet been awarded. Such work is likely to involve bioassay and may take some time to complete and publish.