Food and Feed (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2022

Baroness Merron Excerpts

Tuesday 29th November 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his introduction to this very interesting statutory instrument, which does, as its title indicates, cover a real bag of miscellaneous items.

The SI provides for the first time for edible insects specific to Great Britain to remain on the market until December 2023. I could not think of an insect specific to Great Britain that I would wish to eat. Having searched the internet, I found that I could buy crunchy crickets and other delicacies, but these did not appear to be indigenous to Great Britain. Can the Minister tell the House to which edible insects this regulation actually relates?

Further on in the Explanatory Memorandum, there is reference to

“regenerated cellulose film intended to come into contact with foodstuffs”.

Having had discussions in the past with the then Minister for Defra, the noble Lord, Lord Goldsmith, about the possibility of recycling this film, I was interested to see it popping up here with conditions for how it was to be used but, sadly, no mention of how it might be recycled.

In Part 3 of the regulations, Regulation 8 covers the use of

“additives for use in animal nutrition”,

which should be fairly straightforward, one would think. A definition of “veterinary medicinal product” used in this context covers

“any substance … having properties for treating or preventing disease in animals”.

However, the definition of “substance” is:

“any matter, irrespective of origin, which may be … human, including human blood and human blood products”,

or “

“animal, including micro-organisms, whole animals, parts of organs, animal secretions, toxins, extracts and blood products”.

Are these really to be used to treat animals that are sick?

Schedule 3 to the regulations lists feed materials that may be included for animals. These include:

“All the fleshy parts of slaughtered warm-blooded land animals … and … all products and derivatives of the processing of the carcase or parts of the carcase of warm-blooded land animals”.


I can see the benefit of this for a safari park or a zoo but, perhaps, not so for farm animals or companion animals. Is the Minister satisfied with the rigorous testing of these products and that no further incident such as occurred with the outbreak of BSE, when sheep brains were fed to cattle, could occur in the future?

New paragraph 1A(i) in Regulation 9 refers to the health hazard of parasites in fishing grounds but makes no mention of whether the discharge of sewage into fishing grounds could be a hazard. I will not ask the Minister to comment on that.

Lastly, Regulation 19 deals with the authorisation of genetically modified materials and appears to extend that to 30 December 2025. Why could that extension not have been included in the precision engineering Bill, which is currently making its passage through the Lords? Are such products to be labelled as genetically modified? The noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, has already referred to labelling.

As I have said, this SI covers a large number of issues, too numerous to mention today, and contains some corrections of previous errors. While I find some of the SI extraordinary, I do not oppose its passage.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing the regulations and the thinking behind them. I accept the assurances that he has given. We on these Benches welcome the regulations, which are about trying to correct the drafting errors and inconsistencies that have inevitably emerged. I say that with no criticism; this is a complex area, and there is a need to tidy up regulations following exit from the European Union.

It is perhaps timely to take this opportunity to praise the work of the Food Standards Agency, and to note that it is one of the strange things about the changes introduced by the Government that Health Ministers now find themselves talking about animal feed. I am sure the Minister is delighted to do so, and I myself have certainly learned a lot today in preparation.

I turn to the regulations. The instrument generally maintains existing regulations and does not introduce new requirements, exactly as the Minister has said. I note that no concerns were raised by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments or the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, so I am sure that is cause for celebration on the Government Benches.

We in this country have a good food safety system, and this SI, as others may do, simply tries to ensure that that continues. The problem is of course that the world did not stop when it came to the implementation period completion day. As paragraph 7.13 of the Explanatory Memorandum tactfully puts it, “certain difficulties” emerge,

“especially in relation to the approval of new, or amendment of currently authorised, substances.”

Could the Minister help by elaborating on the difficulties that are posed and any potential costs? What happens with regard to trade when we operate to different standards from those of our near neighbours? The SI addresses the administrative challenge but does not seek to solve the problem.

Similarly, where the review process is described in paragraph 7.15, it would be helpful if the Minister could clarify the circumstances in which the Food Standards Agency will be required to review the operation and effect of the regulations. If, for example, a new extraction solvent is approved in the EU, does that automatically trigger a review? Will the Food Standards Agency be required to undertake additional processes to deliver on that? If so, has an assessment been done of whether the FSA has the capacity to undertake such duties, or can the Minister advise whether the FSA will be getting additional resources?

There is the issue of the “Do Not Eat” pictograph, which is referenced in paragraph 7.22. This states that we cannot use it because of “uncertainty” over the intellectual property rights applying to the ownership of the picture, which seems a bit strange because there must be similar cases of artwork where such provenance is uncertain. Was it asked whether we could use it, and was any uncertainty flagged up at the time? How much would a licence have cost? It is probably right to say that it seems a strange way to proceed if we cannot agree on joint use of an existing symbol to promote food safety. That suggests some problems on which the Minister may wish to comment.

I want also to reference the need to reinstate powers to extend the transitional period for the trace presence of withdrawn genetically modified organisms. There is considerable interest in genetic modification, as we know, and some concern that rules on imported products are inconsistent with rules governing domestic production. Can the Minister say a little about the scale of the issue? For example, just how much oilseed rape is there with traces of the withdrawn GM products referenced in this case?

If the Minister is not able to answer the detail of the points that I have raised, I will be pleased to hear from him in writing. We from these Benches certainly welcome the statutory instrument, and thank him and his team for their efforts.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

My Lords, it is my duty to close this important debate. Your Lordships perform an essential role in scrutinising the measures we have put forward today, and I thank all noble Lords for their contributions. Let me turn, as best I can, to answering some of the points raised. Where I do not quite succeed, I will gladly follow up in writing.

First, my noble friend Lady McIntosh of Pickering asked for an explanation about the pictograph. My understanding is that it is a picture which does not depend on a specific language to understand it. On what happens regarding the IP rights behind it, my understanding—again, I will confirm this—is that a number of questions were asked as to the ownership of those rights. The IP ownership was unclear, so the process for even trying to license it was not clear. That was the issue at hand, but I will come back with further detail on it.

Turning to the other questions, my noble friend Lady McIntosh asked how the SI will affect the retained EU law Bill. The Food Standards Agency is carefully considering the scope of the powers in the retained EU law Bill and whether they can be used to deliver a better, bespoke British system of food safety. Those will all be part of what we go through in the coming weeks and months.

On the labelling of GM and other foods, there are regulations requiring mandatory measures in the traceability and labelling of GM products. This is seen as necessary to inform a consumer about their choice whether to buy and eat GM food, so that will take place in all these cases. The noble Baroness, Lady Merron, asked about the level. My understanding is that it is a minor trace level, consistent with what exists today, but, again, I will follow up on the detail of that. We have been working with the FSA in these areas, which feels that it is in a position to answer and regulate in this area.

Perhaps my favourite question related to edible insects; I only wish I had known about this before “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!” They are apparently for human consumption. I can write on this if noble Lords let me know whether they would like the Latin or the English version, but they are apparently: the lesser mealworm, the house cricket, the yellow mealworm, the banded or decorated cricket, the bird grasshopper or desert locust, the migratory locust, and the black soldier fly. I will not try to read the Latin out for each of those, but I will happily put them down in writing.

I was asked why this could not be included in the precision breeding Bill. The wider question of the future of precision breeding and gene editing is not considered by this SI and would be a matter for the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. For now, the commercial cultivation of gene-edited plants and any food products derived from them will still need to be authorised in accordance with existing GMO rules.

On the question of the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville, on safety going forward, as I said, our approach to food safety is and always will be underpinned by three principles: that UK food remains safe and what it says it is; that the high standard of food safety and consumer protection that we enjoy in this country is maintained; and that, following our exit from the EU, a robust and effective regulatory regime is in place, which means that business can continue as normal.

I hope that I have answered the detailed questions. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, I did not expect to need to understand this as part of my brief, but it is part of the rich variety of my job. I thank noble Lords for their questions and their support, generally, for our proposals. To reiterate: these regulations are critical to ensure that the UK consumer continues to enjoy the high standards of safety and quality provided by UK food and feed regulations. This instrument makes no changes to policy or to how food and feed businesses are regulated, and it is limited to necessary amendments to ensure that.