HL Deb 18 November 2004 vol 666 cc221-4WA
Baroness Byford

asked Her Majesty's Government:

In the light of the recent report by the Food Standards Agency and the Health Protection Agency, what steps are being taken to ensure consumers are not put at risk from salmonella-infected Spanish eggs being used within the catering industry. [HL4994]

Lord Warner

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has advised that it is taking action to reduce the risk of salmonella food poisoning from eggs imported from Spain. First, it is working with the Spanish authorities to try to reduce the number of contaminated eggs entering the United Kingdom to a minimum. Officials from the agency met the Spanish authorities in Madrid in October to discuss the Spanish action plan for reducing levels of salmonella in their eggs. Secondly, the FSA has emphasised its existing advice to caterers that eggs are a raw product and should be treated carefully and properly cooked. This information was given in a joint FSA/Health Protection Agency press release on 14 October and in a letter from the FSA to local authorities. The FSA has also met with representatives of the catering industry to discuss the safe use of eggs.

Baroness Byford

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Why the importation of Spanish eggs was not banned two years ago when those eggs were identified as being the cause of a significant number of salmonella outbreaks. [HL4992]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)

Despite evidence of contaminated eggs coming into the UK from Spain, we cannot apply a blanket ban on imports because it would constitute a barrier to internal EU trade which would place the UK in contravention of the European treaty.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has been advising caterers and other food businesses on the safe use of eggs and has issued guidance to importers of Spanish eggs that they should be sent only for commercial heat treatment.

The FSA has asked the Spanish authorities and the European Commission to address the problem at source. Action has been stepped up because the problem has not yet been solved; it is clear that many food businesses have not been following Food Standards Agency advice; and outbreaks have continued.

Baroness Byford

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Why they did not ban the importation of Spanish eggs when the Food Standards Agency and the Health Protection Agency announced in October that the use of Spanish eggs by the catering industry was a major source of salmonella outbreaks in the United Kingdom. [HL4993]

Lord Whitty

There is a free trade in agricultural products across the European Union and under European legislation it is illegal for one member state to ban the import of agricultural produce from another without good reason. This would not be the case with eggs contaminated with salmonella since they are a raw product and the importer could reasonably expect the eggs to be properly cooked and thus the salmonella destroyed. There is much precedence for unilateral bans on food products being overturned in the courts and one such example is the French ban on UK beef.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has been advising caterers and other food businesses on the safe use of eggs and has issued guidance to importers of Spanish eggs that they should only be sent for commercial heat treatment.

The FSA has asked the Spanish authorities and the European Commission to address the problem at source. Action has been stepped up because the problem has not yet been solved; it is clear that many food businesses have not been following Food Standards Agency advice; and outbreaks have continued.

In the case of these outbreaks of food poisoning where the UK's Health Protection Agency (HPA) implicated salmonella from eggs, particularly Spanish eggs, as the likely cause, it would be better to deal with salmonella contamination of eggs at source and encourage trade in a safe product rather than impose a unilateral ban. Despite evidence of contaminated eggs coming into the UK from Spain, we cannot apply a blanket ban on imports because it would constitute a barrier to internal EU trade that would place the UK in contravention of the European treaty.

Baroness Byford

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether tighter import controls will be placed on eggs to ensure that food safety problems, particularly within the catering industry, are kept to a minimum. [HL4995]

Lord Whitty

Defra is working closely with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the Health Protection Agency (HPA) to reduce the risk of illness to consumers caused by eating contaminated eggs. The Health Protection Agency has implicated eggs, particularly from Spain, as one of the likely sources of salmonella in outbreaks of food-borne illness. Two courses of action have been taken to reduce the risk of salmonella food poisoning from eggs imported from Spain.

First, it is working with the Spanish authorities to try to reduce the number of contaminated eggs entering the UK to a minimum. Officials from the FSA met the Spanish authorities in Madrid in October to discuss the Spanish action plan for reducing levels of salmonella in their eggs.

Secondly, the FSA has emphasised its existing advice to caterers that eggs are a raw product and should be treated carefully and properly cooked. This information was given in a joint FSA/Health Protection Agency press release on 14 October and in a letter from the FSA to local authorities. The FSA has also met with representatives of the catering industry to discuss the safe use of eggs.

Proper heat treatment of any raw foodstuffs contaminated with salmonella should kill it completely thus rendering the product safe to eat. All the current circumstantial evidence suggests that many caterers that are using Spanish eggs are not cooking the eggs properly. The FSA is developing an information campaign targeting those sections of the catering industry where poor hygiene practices seem to be most common.