Potatoes (Hansard, 20 November 2003)

§ Mr. Roger Williams
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the last confirmed outbreak was of ring rot of potatoes in the UK. [139299]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
[holding answer 18 November 2003]: Until the case on 7 November 2003 there had been no previous outbreak of potato ring rot in the UK.

§ Mr. Roger Williams
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the arrangements are for testing for ring rot in potatoes. [139300]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
[holding answer 18 November 2003]: Testing for ring rot in potatoes is carried out in accordance with the provisions laid down in EC Council Directive 93/85/EEC of 4 October 1993 on the control of potato ring rot. This includes provision for member states to undertake official surveys of potatoes for the presence of the disease, with any samples taken being tested in accordance with internationally agreed protocols.

§ Mr. Roger Williams
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what contingency plans her Department has made for an outbreak of ring rot in potatoes. [139415]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
[holding answer 18 November 2003]: The Department's contingency plan for dealing with outbreaks of ring rot in potatoes is available on the Defra website at www.defra.gov.uk/planth/ring.htm
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§ Mr. Roger Williams
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what arrangements are in place for compensating producers of potatoes infected with ring rot who have complied fully with health regulations. [139416]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
[holding answer 18 November 2003]: Defra does not pay compensation to producers of potatoes infected with ring rot.

§ Mr. Roger Williams
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the robustness of the testing methodology for ring rot in imported potatoes. [139417]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
[holding answer 18 November 2003]: The testing methodology for ring rot in imported potatoes is laid down in EC Council Directive 93/85/ EEC of 4 October 1993 on the control of potato ring rot. These tests reflect internationally agreed protocols based on best scientific advice.

§ Mr. Drew
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will publish the contingency arrangements for dealing with potato ring rot. [139472]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
The Department's contingency plans for dealing with potato ring rot have been published on the Defra web-site at www.defra.gov.uk/planth/ring.pdf

§ Mr. Paterson
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of(a) visual inspection and (b) other means in ensuring that consignments of potatoes are free from infection of bacterial ring rot; and what methods are available to determine the presence of bacterial ring rot in consignments of potatoes. [140319]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
The information is as follows:
(a) All Plant Health and Seeds Inspectors are fully trained in the visual identification of potato ring rot and there is no evidence to suggest that this training is not effective although ring rot is known to exist sometimes in a latent, symptomless form, which is why visual inspections are supplemented by laboratory testing.
(b) An annual survey for ring rot is carried out by the Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate which involves taking samples of seed and ware potatoes from a representative sample of growers. The survey is a requirement of EC Council Directive 93/85/EEC of 4 October 1993 which also lays down details of the required testing methodology. In addition, all imported seed potatoes entering the seed potato classification scheme are tested for the presence of potato ring rot.

§ Mr. Paterson
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the risk of cross contamination to other seed potatoes following the recent outbreak of ring rot. [140320]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
EC Directive 93/85/EEC on the control of potato ring rot lays down a series of measures to be taken at outbreak sites which take account of the 1237W possible risks of cross contamination. Testing is still under way at the farm in Wales where the outbreak was discovered and it will be some time before we know whether the infection was restricted to the one stock. As a precautionary measure no other stocks of potatoes from the farm will be planted, whatever the results of the tests. Three premises in England to which stocks had already been sent from the outbreak farm have been put under statutory notice. We understand that the consignments sent to the Canary Islands have also been impounded. Any links which indicate a risk at other farms will result in similar restrictions at those premises.

§ Mr. Paterson
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what additional seed inspection procedures have been put in place following the recent outbreak of ring rot at(a) domestic sites and (b) points of import. [140321]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
The priority now is to determine the extent of the current outbreak and to trace and test other deliveries from the same and any related stocks. In the light of that information we will then review levels of inspection and monitoring of domestic and imported potatoes. This outbreak was detected as a result of our annual survey for the presence of potato ring rot under which 932 tests and 1,151 visual inspections are carried out last year.

§ Mr. Paterson
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures were taken to quarantine(a) the farm of Mr. John Morgan and (b) the four other farms to which he has sent seed potatoes possibly infected with ring rot. [140322]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
As soon as the diagnosis of ring rot was made on a sample from the farm in mid Wales a statutory notice was served under the Plant Health (Great Britain) Order 1993 (as amended) to prevent movement of potatoes from that farm. The same measures were taken, on a precautionary basis, at each of the three farms in England to which seed had already been delivered. In relation to the delivery to the Canary Islands we notified the Spanish authorities and we understand the consignment has been impounded.

§ Mr. Paterson
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research the Department has commissioned on the development of a bactericide for the elimination of ring rot in the past five years; and what the cost was. [140323]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
There are no bactericides approved for use on any plant bacterial disease in the UK. Unlike fungicides bactericides are not generally effective against disease on growing plants. There are standard commercial disinfectants available for hygiene measures in stores and on containers and harvesting/grading machinery. The efficacy of these was recently investigated at the Central Science Laboratory as part of1238W a Defra funded research contract on the development of an on-farm strategy for eradication of ring rot which cost £40,000 per year (2002–03).

§ Mr. Paterson
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the annual value of the potato crop produced in the UK was in the last year for which figures are available, at farmgate prices. [140306]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
I will write to the hon. Member with the information in due course.

§ Mr. Paterson
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average annual tonnage of seed potatoes(a) exported from the UK to and (b) imported into the UK from all sources was in the last 10 years for which figures are available. [140307]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
I will write to the hon. Member with the information in due course.

§ Mr. Paterson
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment the Government has made of the prevalence of ring rot in Europe and North America. [140324]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
EC Council Directive 93/85/EEC on the control of potato ring rot requires member states to carry out regular surveys and report the results to the Plant Health Standing Committee. Equivalent information is now being required from accession countries. All member states, except Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Portugal have reported outbreaks of ring rot. Prior to the adoption of the control Directive in 1995 there was a wide variation between member states in their policy on the disease and the level of official action against it. Ring rot is regarded as an established disease in the USA and in large parts of Canada, although there are certain seed growing regions such as Prince Edward Island where statutory measures are taken to exclude ring rot and eradicate it when it occurs.

§ Mr. Paterson
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what advice the Government have sought from(a) European and (b) North American governments on the handling of ring rot. [140325]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
UK scientists at CSL are closely involved in the group of plant bacteriologists from around the EU who provided technical advice on diagnostic tests and risk management measures during the development of the control Directive on Ring Rot. They also play a major role in the scientific panels of the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation. In 2002 experts from Canada and the USA met with EU experts to discuss ring rot controls. Defra's Central Science Laboratory is in regular contact with the experts from the eradication programme on Prince Edward Island.