Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they are taking to ensure there is no repeat of the 2013 horsemeat scandal; and what measures they are taking to improve the traceability of horses in the UK.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is the national authority responsible for food safety and food hygiene across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The FSA ensures that official controls and legislation for meat safety and traceability are met by deploying staff in every slaughterhouse. The FSA also conducts risk-based, intelligence driven surveillance to monitor food safety and authenticity. It also has a National Food Crime Unit to prevent, detect and investigate food crime. This was established following the 2013 horsemeat incident.

The Government recognises the importance of improving equine traceability. Defra is engaging with industry to consider improvements to this.