Food and Feed (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2022

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Tuesday 29th November 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for bringing forward the statutory instrument this afternoon. While I am, overall, in support of the regulations contained in the instrument, I have two brief questions.

The Government seem to have a certain resistance to the labelling of food—whether it contains GMO, gene- edited or other ingredients. I note with some interest that the Explanatory Memorandum at paragraph 7.6 says that, until we adopt the regulations before us this afternoon, there has been a requirement to use a “Do not eat” pictograph on the products referred to in that paragraph. I would be interested to know the differences between a pictograph and a label. As we move towards adopting our own regulations—as I understand is the Government’s intention going forward—will the Government look favourably on clearly labelling food- stuffs of interest to the consumer where they contain ingredients made from GMO, gene-editing or any similar method, such as in novel foods, which are also referred to here?

It would be interesting know what purposes are intended for the edible insects—they sound most appetising, or perhaps not—which are referred to throughout the regulations. Are they for human, animal or pet consumption? For what purposes are they used?

My last question is: which authorities will implement the regulations before us this afternoon? Will it be the environmental health officers of local authorities? Does my noble friend share my concern that the way that such regulations are being implemented across England, in particular, is patchy owing to the fact that budgets are, obviously, under extreme pressure at the moment? I would be interested to know which will be the implementing authority.

I said that was the final question; I lied. I would like to ask one more question if I may. What will happen to this regulation—and, presumably, one to come for Northern Ireland should this one not apply to Northern Ireland—under the provisions of the retained EU law Bill?

[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.

[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.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

I press my noble friend on what the implementing authority will be.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I apologise; I will definitely need to come back in writing on this, but my understanding is that, at a local level, it will be local authorities. I am grateful for noble Lords’ contributions and the sincerity of their views.