Horsemeat (Food Fraud) Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Andrew Percy
Main Page: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)Department Debates - View all Andrew Percy's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(11 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Paterson
I have to admire the way in which Morrisons managed to penetrate every possible news outlet in order to promote its products.
Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) (Con)
I understand the technical definition, but to many of my constituents a supposed beef product that is actually horse represents a contamination.
May I pursue the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes (Martin Vickers)? Can the Secretary of State tell me whether, if the meat had come from outside the European Union, we would now be looking at an import ban?
Mr Paterson
That is a good question. I assume that my hon. Friend means that the product was processed within the European Union. We should not forget that the products withdrawn by Findus were eventually processed in Luxembourg from meat which, we understand, went to Castelnaudary in France and possibly came from Romania, and that they therefore counted as European Union products. Under the existing system, a product from Comigel in Luxembourg would have to present a health risk to enable me to approach Commissioner Borg to request an import ban.