1 Introduction
Our inquiry
1. In February 2013 we published our Report into
Contamination of Beef Products.[1]
This focused on the discovery of horse and pig DNA in a number
of frozen and processed beef products on sale in the UK market
and the Government's response to these findings. Our Report also
made a number of recommendations in respect of the Food Standards
Agency (FSA). Since then, further testing has revealed more incidents
of contamination in the UK as well as in other EU Member States.
2. In its reply to that Report in April the Government
said its response had been swift and effective in putting in place
a testing regime for industry and local government. It had also
informed the EU authorities promptly and recommended a European
response. The Government said it would consider a number of our
recommendations about the FSA and that it was committed to "learning
the lessons from the incident, and to make any changes that are
needed to reinforce the integrity of the food chain."[2]
3. We decided to produce a second Report, once UK
and EU testing programmes were complete and the full extent of
the contamination was known, with the intention of exploring the
capacity of the relevant UK authorities to respond to major incidents
such as these. This Report focuses on developments since April
2013 including the interim findings of the independent review
of the FSA's response to the crisis[3]
and the forthcoming review of food supply networks announced by
the Government on 4 June.[4]
4. We held five additional evidence sessions with
Local Government Association, British Meat Producers Association
(BMPA), ABP Food Group, Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI),
Association of Public Analysts (APA), FSA, Freeza Meats, European
Commission and the Minister for Agriculture and Food, David Heath,
MP. We are grateful to all who have contributed to our inquiry.
1 Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Eighth
Report of Session 2012-13, Contamination of Beef Products,
HC 946. Back
2
Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Seventh Special
Report of Session 2012-13, Contamination of Beef Products:
Government Response to the Committee's Eighth Report of Session
2012-13, HC 1085 Back
3
http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2013/jun/horsereview Back
4
Hansard, 4 June 2013, 92WS Back
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