Horsemeat (Food Fraud) Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Jonathan Ashworth
Main Page: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)Department Debates - View all Jonathan Ashworth's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(11 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Paterson
Transparency is essential. On Saturday, we agreed that further tests would continue, and that the FSA would publish the results every three months in order to give confidence to the consumer. Ensuring that consumers go to shops and buy British goods is absolutely key.
Jonathan Ashworth (Leicester South) (Lab)
Given the concerns about horsemeat, and given the announcement at the end of January that pork DNA had been found in pies that were supposed to be halal, many of my constituents are naturally anxious about the classification of halal meat. Can the Secretary of State tell us what meetings he has had with halal certification organisations, and can he reassure my constituents that meat that is labelled halal is indeed halal?
Mr Paterson
That is an important point. Many faith groups would be shocked to find that they had bought inappropriate material. This is an operational matter, which is being taken up by the FSA.