§ Baroness Byfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 25 April (WA 59), whether that Answer implies that despite a nil progress report on the inspection mission in 2000, the European Commission's Food and Veterinary Office did not carry out a further inspection mission in 2001; and whether poultry meat is coming into the United Kingdom from France. [HL4139]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings HeathIt is the responsibility of the European Commission to ensure that member states fulfil their obligations under EC rules, and for the Commission to determine the programme of inspection missions by the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO). The FVO did not carry out a further inspection mission to France on poultry meat production in 2001.
Poultry meat is being imported into the United Kingdom from France, and trade figures for 2001 show a total level of imports, for all types and presentations of poultry, of 52,434 tonnes. The fact that the FVO has criticised the authorities in a member state does not mean that meat cannot be produced in accordance with EC law in that member state. The focus of health inspections is on the individual carcass, and meat may be lawfully traded only if it has been passed by veterinary inspection in the slaughterhouse, and has been given a health mark.