§ Mrs. Ann WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the findings of investigations carried out by her Department on the risks posed to animal health by illegal consignments of meat imported into the UK. [54496]
§ Mr. MorleyA risk assessment has been commissioned by DEFRA to quantify the probability of an outbreak of exotic disease linked to illegal imports. The work will seek to identify the pathways virus might travel and what are the critical control points along those pathways.
The risk assessment is being carried out by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) and will facilitate the identification of effective control strategies and efficient and effective resource allocation to reduce risks to animal health from exotic diseases. The work commenced in March 2002 and is scheduled to run for six months. It is therefore too early to reach any conclusions.