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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what further measures are planned for the labelling of meat and dairy products to recognise the high standards of welfare in British products.

Consumers buying meat and dairy products produced in the UK can be reassured that we have some of the highest animal welfare standards in the European Union.

We pressed for new EU legislation extending country of origin rules from beef to fresh and frozen sheep, goat, pig and poultry meat to help consumers identify food produced in the UK. These came into force in April 2015. We are also pressing for this rule to be extended to dairy products.

To support consumers further in making an informed choice, Defra is pressing the EU to implement rules to require that where food products indicate that they are produced in a specific country they must also state if the main ingredients are from a different country.

2016 is the Year of Great British Food. Through the Great British Food campaign Defra is working in partnership with industry to champion the outstanding quality of UK produce to help fuel demand for Great British Food.