§ Joan RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what GM products are used in(a) fish feed for farmed fish and (b) fishmeal contained in feedstuffs for ruminants. [124511]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson[holding answer 8 July 2003]: I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that feed for farmed fish consists primarily of fishmeal and fish oil, although feed producers have been turning increasingly to vegetable ingredients such as maize gluten feed and soya bean meal. Whether this is likely to contain a proportion of genetically modified-derived material will depend on its source, although I understand that the fish farming industry endeavours to avoid the use of GM or GM-derived ingredients.
The feeding of fishmeal to ruminants is currently prohibited as part of European Union controls on the use of processed animal protein in animal feed. Fishmeal is solely derived from fish and at present, genetically modified fish are only reared and kept under laboratory conditions.