Food: Adulteration Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Lord Grantchester
Main Page: Lord Grantchester (Labour - Excepted Hereditary)Department Debates - View all Lord Grantchester's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(10 years, 8 months ago)
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Lord De Mauley
My Lords, I do agree and that, indeed, is what is happening.
Lord Grantchester (Lab)
My Lords, this is fraud on a massive scale. It is made easier by this Government’s changes to the structure of regulation, which weakened consumer protection by fragmenting the responsibilities of the Food Standards Agency between different bodies. Will the Government recognise this mistake and revisit the decision?
Lord De Mauley
My Lords, I am glad that the noble Lord has given me the opportunity to answer that question. I have seen no evidence to suggest that the machinery of government changes had any material impact on the response to the horsemeat fraud incident. That incident was fraud on an EU-wide scale and had nothing to do with changes in responsibilities between UK government departments.