§ Mr. Keith SimpsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what evidence his Department presented to the National Audit Office report on the 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth disease concerning the risk assessment with regard to bovine DNA contained in imported frozen chicken breasts; [68838]
(2) whether he informed the Scientific Review into Foot and Mouth by the Royal Society of his Department's risk assessment with regard to bovine DNA contained in imported frozen chicken breasts; [68840]
(3) whether he informed the Inquiry into the lessons to be learned from the foot and mouth disease outbreak of 2001 of his Department's risk assessment with regard to bovine DNA contained in imported frozen chicken breasts. [68836]
§ Ms BlearsAs this is not an issue which comes under the remit of either the inquiry into the lessons to be learned from the foot and mouth disease outbreak of 2001, or the National Audit Office value for money examination into the 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth disease, or the Royal Society study into infectious diseases in livestock, neither the Food Standards Agency (FSA) nor the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has raised it with them.
The FSA's survey investigating composition and labelling of frozen chicken breasts sold in the United Kingdom catering sector, published in December 2001, found pork DNA in two samples, but no bovine DNA was detected in any of the samples. However, a recent Irish survey published by the Food Safety Authority (Ireland) this May, found samples showing the presence of either pork DNA or beef DNA or both.