§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) which laboratory facilities will be available to test for GM presence in the labelling of(a)food and (b)feed, as required by EU Directive 2001/18 in Regulation (EC) 1829/2003; [175569]
(2) what system has been set up to check the reliability of labelling for the presence of GM in food to meet the requirements to label set down by EU Directive 2001/18 from April; [175570]
(3) what provision he is putting in place to implement labelling of (a)GM animal feed and (b)the meat derived from animals fed on GM feed in accordance with EU Directive 2001/18 and Regulation (EC) 1829/ 2003. [175571]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson[holding answer 26 May 2004]:Regulation (EC) 1829/2003, genetically modified (GM) food and feed lays down rules for the labelling of all GM food and feed products derived from genetically modified organisms (GMOs), regardless of the presence or absence of GM material in the final food or feed product. Products from animals fed GM animal feed are exempt from the labelling requirements. Regulation (EC) 1830/2003 on traceability and labelling of GM organisms (GMOs) provides a European Union-wide system for identifying GM products throughout the food and feed supply chain.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) are currently carrying out a joint consultation on the draft domestic legislation, which will implement these EC regulations. The consultation ends on 25 June.
153WEnforcement of Regulation 1829/2003 is the responsibility of local authorities FSA officials have provided information to local authorities and met with local authority co-ordination of regulatory services officials and trading standards officers to discuss the requirements of these regulations.
There are five United Kingdom Accreditation Service accredited public analyst laboratories in the UK, which can carry out testing for GM ingredients. Testing can only be carried out where GM material (DNA or protein) is present. For products derived from GMOs, and where no GM material is present, labelling will need to be verified by a paper audit trail.
1997 1999 2001 2002 2003 Change since 1997 Percentage change since 1997 London 208 221 244 282 348 140 67 England 1,343 1,520 1,883 1,980 2,235 892 66 Note: Data as at 1 October 1997–99, 30 September 2000–03. Source: Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics. Funding for GP registrars is included in strategic health authorities' multi-professional education and training allocations. In 2004–05, these allocations will be increased by almost £10 million to fund £134 new GP registrars, 10 of which will be in London. We remain committed to increasing the number of GP registrars in the National Health Service and having exceeded the NHS Plan target of 450 (later updated to 550) more GP registrars over the 1999 baseline, nine months early, work continues to recruit even more.