Asked by: Brian Leishman (Labour - Alloa and Grangemouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to take steps to help ensure that the labelling of food originating in Western Sahara is not (a) mislabelled and (b) misleading.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to ensuring that UK consumers are not misled about the origin of the food they purchase. In accordance with assimilated EU Regulation 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, food labelling must not be misleading, including in relation to the origin or provenance of food.
It is the UK position that where origin information is given for food products made or grown in the Western Sahara, it must give accurate origin information and cannot be labelled as Moroccan.
Produce originating in Western Sahara that has been mislabelled as produce of Morocco would be considered misleading under food labelling regulations.
Defra officials and the Food Standards Agency work closely with Local Authority Trading Standards Officers who enforce food labelling rules in the UK, including addressing labels that may be misleading or non-compliant.
Asked by: Brian Leishman (Labour - Alloa and Grangemouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will outline the differences between the Border Control Post requirements in place for (a) exports and (b) imports at (i) Grangemouth, (ii) Rosyth, (iii) Burntisland and (iv) Methil ports.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Standards set out for Border Control Post (BCPs) are contained within a legislative framework and are dependent on what the BCP is approved to handle in relation to SPS goods, such as plants and plant products, or products or animal origin. A list of what a BCP is approved to handle can be found on GOV.UK
Asked by: Brian Leishman (Labour - Alloa and Grangemouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme on (a) glass manufacturers in Scotland, (b) economic growth in Scotland and (c) changes from glass to less sustainable packaging materials.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In autumn last year my department published an assessment of the impacts of implementing extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR), when the regulations were laid in parliament. This impact assessment does not include an assessment of the impact on specific materials or sectors or disaggregate at a national level.