Food and Feed (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2022

Debate between Baroness Merron and Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

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.