§ Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much his Department spent on(a) polymerase chain reaction and (b) other DNA-identification tests in each of the last 10 years; [116853]
Completed in year Range of foodstuffs included No. of projects Total cost (£s) 2000 Food mixtures, meat. 3 75,021 2001 Meat, wine, seafood, fish, olive oil, chicken. 6 423,098 2002 Potatoes, rice, meat, olive and hazelnut oil. 5 343,549 2003 White fish, jams and yoghurts, vegetarian foods, meat, rice, potato, chicken breasts. 10 725,286 (estimated)
§ Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many food samples were subjected to polymerase chain reaction tests by the Food Standards Agency in each year since the Agency was established; and what proportion of those tests identified DNA from products other than the food sample tested, broken down by category. [116855]
Date/year Title/Purpose of study and foodstuff sampled Number of samples collected Number of samples containing foreign DNA Proportion of samples containing foreign DNA (%) December 2001 Survey of meat content, added water and hydrolysed protein in catering chicken breasts 68(1 sample = 10kg. Carton) 2 samples contained pork DNA. 3 January 2002 Pilot study: Analysis of GM soya content in retail baked goods (including bread, cakes, burns and rolls). 203 31 samples contained traces of GM soya, but only 3 of these contained more than 1% GM soya. 15(of which only 1.5% above legal threshold limit). March 2003 Co-ordinated enforcement exercise on meat content, added water, and hydrolysed proteins in catering chicken breasts. 25 11 samples contained pork DNA. 1 sample contained pork & beef DNA. 48