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Meat Inspections
Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many inspectors are currently available to carry out meat inspections in each region. [23112]
Mrs. Browning: I have asked the chief executive of the Meat Hygiene Service to reply to my hon. Friend direct.
Letter from Johnston McNeill to Mr. Harry Greenway, dated 2 April 1996:
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P = Permanent, T = Temporary (100 week contract), C = Casual. OVS = Official Veterinary Surgeon, AMI = Authorised Meat Inspector, PMI = Poultry Meat Inspector.
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As Chief Executive of the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS), your question regarding meat inspection staff has been passed to me for reply.[23112]
The MHS currently employ, nationally, 509 red meat and 163 poultry meat inspectors on a full time basis. In addition it utilises 69 inspectors (62 red meat; 7 white) on fixed term contracts of 100 weeks duration. There is also a pool of 222 staff (203 red; 19 white) used on a casual basis. As you will appreciate, these last two sets of figures in particular fluctuate according to demand.
These meat inspection staff are supervised by Official Veterinary Surgeons (OVSs). The MHS directly employs 39 OVSs and in addition contracts out work to 110 full-time equivalent vets to supplement them. 3 vets are also utilised on a casual basis.
The MHS is divided into 6 regions and the above figures are broken down as shown on the attached table.
Region/Department
Grade North Central South and East South West Wales Scotland Total
Official veterinary surgeon Permanent 8 8 6 4 5 4 35
Temporary 1 1 2 0 0 0 4
Casual 0 0 0 1 2 0 3
Sub total 9 9 8 5 7 4 42
Senior authorised meat inspector Permanent 19 16 12 8 6 14 75
Temporary 0 1 0 1 1 0 3
Casual 1 0 0 1 0 0 2
Sub total 20 17 12 10 7 14 80
Authorised meat inspector Permanent 119 67 97 46 32 73 434
Temporary 14 9 17 11 6 2 59
Casual 50 32 35 37 24 23 201
Sub total 183 108 149 94 62 98 694
Senior poultry meat inspector
Permanent 8 7 5 3 5 5 33
Temporary 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Casual 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Sub total 8 7 5 3 5 6 34
Poultry meat inspector Permanent 27 13 46 11 23 10 130
Temporary 3 2 0 2 0 0 7
Casual 2 4 3 3 6 0 18
Sub total 32 19 49 16 29 10 155
Total 252 160 223 128 110 132 1,005
Poultry Feed
Mr. Kilfoyle: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the number of poultry which have been fed protein feed in each year since 1989. [23155]
Mrs. Browning: All poultry are fed on a diet which typically contains between 15 and 28 per cent. protein.
Food Safety
Ms Walley: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to introduce a food safety strategy. [23111]
Mrs. Browning: My Department's aims, objectives and programmes in the food safety area are set out in the 1996 departmental report, CM 3204, which has just been published.
Pet Food
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proposals he has to stop the use of potentially infected beef waste in the production of cat and dog food. [23349]
Mrs. Browning: The use of specified bovine offal in feedingstuffs for animals, including pet food, is already prohibited under the Specified Bovine Offal Order 1995.
Cattle Inspectors and Veterinarians
Mr. Welsh: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many (a) cattle inspectors and (b) veterinarians there are (i) in Scotland and (ii) in the rest of the United Kingdom. [23356]
Mrs. Browning [holding answer 28 March 1996]: At 1 March 1996, directly employed by the Ministry within the State Veterinary Service there were (a) 23 Ministry technical staff appointed as inspectors under the
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Animal Health Act 1981 in Scotland and 159 in the rest of Great Britain; (b) 51 veterinary surgeons in Scotland and 247 in the rest of Great Britain.
Meat and Bonemeal Feed
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to ban the import of all animal feedstuffs containing mammalian meat, other animal and butchers' wastes and bonemeal. [23326]
Mrs. Browning: The proposed restrictions on mammalian meat and bonemeal will apply equally to mammalian meat and bonemeal imported from other countries.
Mr. Welsh: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the location and volume of stocks of meat bonemeal feed in (a) Scotland and (b) the rest of the United Kingdom. [23355]
Mrs. Browning [holding answer 28 March 1996]: Detailed information is not available on the total stocks of meat and bonemeal held in the United Kingdom. However, information is available on the stocks held by all known compounders in Great Britain which produce animal feedingstuffs for sale. The following figures include estimates for such producers in Northern Ireland:
Scotland: 56 tonnes
Rest of the UK: 2,053 tonnes
Food Labelling (Beef Products)
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he will take to provide full information to all consumers about beef products contained in foodstuffs; and if he will ban the sales of foodstuffs which do not carry such a description clearly presented. [23229]
Mrs. Browning [holding answer 29 March 1996]: The EC food labelling directive requires that the species origin of meat ingredients of all prepacked foodstuffs should be indicated on labels unless the ingredients form part of a
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composite ingredient which is less than 25 per cent. of the foodstuff. However, the UK also currently permits the use of generic terms for meat and offal ingredients provided that:
- (a) in the case of "meat" the labelling of the food does not otherwise refer to a specific type of meat;
(b) in the case of "other meat", this describes meat not otherwise referred to on the label;
(c) in the case of "offal", this refers only to an ingredient of a cooked food.
The Government have no plans to ban products which do not comply with these rules.
Common Agricultural Policy
Mr. Gill: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the underspend within the CAP budget for the current year. [23419]
Mr. Baldry: The Commission's latest estimates suggest an underspend of about 0.7 becu or £0.6 billion.
Fertiliser (Chicken Manure)
Mr. David Nicholson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what advice he has received regarding (a) the suitability or otherwise of chicken litter as an agricultural fertiliser and (b) the supply of chicken litter for fertiliser purposes. [23577]
Mr. Boswell: Poultry manure--including the ashed product from incineration--is a source of various nutrients and is used as a fertiliser. I have no quantitative information on supplies.
Rabies
Sir George Gardiner: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the outcome of the rabies risk assessment referred to by the Chief Veterinary Officer at the seminar organised by the Royal Society of Medicine on 3 May 1995. [23595]
Mrs. Browning [holding answer 29 March 1996]: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Smith) on 29 February, Official Report, column 710.
Sir George Gardiner: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent studies his Department has undertaken into the efficacy of the pet passport scheme introduced in Sweden to exclude rabies; and if he will reconsider his response to the proposals from the Agriculture Committee in its fifth report of Session 1993-94, HC 347. [23697]
Mrs. Browning [holding answer 29 March 1996]: Senior officials from my Department visited Norway and Sweden late last year to get a first-hand idea of how their new systems are working. Their impression was that the
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import controls operating in those countries were far more bureaucratic than our quarantine system, and administratively more expensive to operate.
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