Asked by: Mike Crockart (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the Government's position is in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations on the import from the US of chemically-treated poultry.
Answered by George Eustice
All food imported from the US must adhere to EU rules and TTIP will not change that. Any changes to food safety measures in the European Union must be subject to a robust scientific risk assessment and agreed by EU Member States and the European Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Hoyle (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government from which countries (1) eggs, and (2) poultry, have been imported into the United Kingdom in each of the last four years; and what are the respective quantities from each country.
Answered by Lord De Mauley
The tables below provide the numbers and countries within the EU and third countries from which live poultry and hatching eggs have been imported:
EU imports of live poultry and hatching eggs | ||||||||||||||
2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 (to 26 Nov) | |||||||||||
Country | Number of Eggs | Poultry Number of birds | Number of Eggs | Poultry Number of birds | Number of Eggs | Poultry Number of birds | Number of Eggs | Poultry Number of birds | ||||||
Belgium | 63950 | 412750 | 7200 | 371264 | 112400 | 221472 | 5040 | 187325 | ||||||
Czech Rep | 8640 | 5000 | 0 | 17380 | 5760 | 47760 | 0 | 40780 | ||||||
Germany | 1025482 | 627798 | 1007850 | 401274 | 1126806 | 701409 | 1291524 | 388139 | ||||||
Denmark | 1000 | 0 | 2500 | 0 | 285960 | 0 | 126100 | 0 | ||||||
Spain | 590000 | 0 | 329460 | 0 | 399026 | 0 | 203800 | 2768 | ||||||
Finland | 75240 | 0 | 67250 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2000 | 0 | ||||||
France | 14242537 | 1972197 | 16479078 | 1988591 | 16753060 | 1750953 | 15793874 | 1209422 | ||||||
Hungary | 257284 | 4000 | 324982 | 4000 | 214214 | 0 | 169887 | 0 | ||||||
Ireland | 27786675 | 9574151 | 33551712 | 8474460 | 36863359 | 6847264 | 40434677 | 7309954 | ||||||
Italy | 1157760 | 0 | 3634560 | 0 | 15962400 | 32500 | 1695600 | 0 | ||||||
Netherlands | 4816640 | 2188437 | 2298680 | 1750349 | 9084440 | 1556067 | 20083325 | 1229405 | ||||||
Norway | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
Poland | 72000 | 0 | 6480 | 0 | 125500 | 0 | 356560 | 0 | ||||||
Portugal | 1526400 | 0 | 558000 | 0 | 302400 | 0 | 1568160 | 0 | ||||||
Sweden | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23400 | 0 | 20000 | 0 | ||||||
Slovenia | 0 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
Third country imports of live poultry and hatching eggs | ||||||||||||
2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |||||||||
Country | Number of Eggs | Poultry Number of birds | Number of Eggs | Poultry Number of birds | Number of Eggs | Poultry Number of birds | Number of Eggs | Poultry Number of birds | ||||
Brazil | 13320 | 0 | 61920 | 8968 | 65880 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
Canada | 0 | 0 | 6000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25200 | 0 | ||||
Russia | 0 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
USA | 3382620 | 143445 | 3056220 | 157677 | 1742475 | 163940 | 1227700 | 92577 | ||||
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of meat (a) from the UK and (b) from outside the UK was (i) physically inspected and (ii) visually inspected in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is responsible for the delivery of official controls in approved meat establishments (slaughterhouses, cutting plants and game handling establishments) subject to veterinary control within the United Kingdom. This work is carried out for the FSA by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) in Northern Ireland (NI) through a Service Level Agreement.
Official veterinarians, and meat hygiene inspectors working under the supervision of official veterinarians, are typically present during processing of animals presented for slaughter. They carry out a range of duties, including ante and post mortem checks (on live animals and carcases and offal) and checks on the health and welfare of animals presented for slaughter. These official control duties ensure that food business operators have produced meat in accordance with regulatory requirements, with a health mark applied to show that meat is safe to enter the food chain.
The following table states the number of individual species slaughtered within Great Britain (GB) in the last 10 years:
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 |
Adult cattle | 1,838,857 | 1,980,087 | 2,199,050 | 2,170,866 | 2,118,769 |
Pigs (all weights) | 7,928,017 | 7,800,363 | 7,982,221 | 8,346,603 | 7,902,093 |
Sheep (all weights) | 15,161,407 | 15,804,748 | 15,085,860 | 15,766,227 | 15,631,217 |
Poultry (all weights) | 786,584,808 | 788,927,801 | 778,255,925 | 798,826,258 | 778,470,948 |
Game and rabbits <2kg | 1,852,179 | 1,933,927 | 2,525,517 | 3,448,810 | 3,504,225 |
Goats (all weights) | 8,729 | 7,141 | 7,115 | 8,910 | 9,773 |
Wild boar | 1,599 | 1,445 | 2,121 | 2,087 | 1,329 |
| 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 |
Adult cattle | 2,067,390 | 2,252,070 | 2,279,934 | 2,211,216 | 2,131,839 |
Pigs (all weights) | 7,714,031 | 7,996,101 | 8,461,760 | 8,762,185 | 8,651,444 |
Sheep (all weights) | 14,371,451 | 13,928,563 | 14,006,066 | 13,921,108 | 13,887,013 |
Poultry (all weights) | 800,679,007 | 838,136,383 | 851,540,495 | 887,006,955 | 889,505,745 |
Game and rabbits <2kg | 3,321,459 | 3,643,998 | 3,902,308 | 3,684,420 | 4,066,114 |
Goats (all weights) | 9,200 | 11,600 | 12,964 | 15,000 | 15,250 |
Wild boar | 981 | 850 | 1,056 | 1,313 | 1,152 |
The following table states the number of individual species slaughtered within Northern Ireland (NI) in the last eight years, it was not possible to collate 10 years data.
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
Cattle | 435,275 | 458,912 | 428,875 | 453,726 | 473,885 |
Sheep | 880,263 | 823,155 | 645,174 | 582,299 | 368,034 |
Pigs | 1,194,723 | 1,301,880 | 1,293,357 | 1,354,767 | 1,564,659 |
Poultry | 98,405,838 | 99,147,331 | 96,492,015 | 102,076,083 | 107,457,158 |
Horses | 81 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 935 |
Deer | 2277 | 1660 | 1533 | 1623 | 1498 |
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
Cattle | 451,727 | 446,367 | 109,521 |
Sheep | 301,352 | 423,897 | 72,654 |
Pigs | 1,599,039 | 1,618,130 | 400,980 |
Poultry | 105,194,964 | 104,884,083 | 28,373,369 |
Horses | 899 | 979 | 48 |
Deer | 1044 | 730 | 170 |
The above tables provides throughput for major species in GB and NI – either by financial year (GB) or calendar year (NI). Note species included are different.
The FSA and DARD do not routinely record the inspection method of animals slaughtered.
Poultry carcases and their associated offal are “visual only” inspected. Since June 2014 carcases and offal of pigs of all ages may undergo visual inspection procedures however further inspection procedures (palpation and/or incision) can be carried out when there may be indications of a risk to public health, animal health or animal welfare. All other carcases still require physical inspection and incision of lymph nodes.
With regards to imports of meat, all consignments of meat from outside of the European Union (EU) are required to be presented at UK Border Inspection Posts to undergo mandatory official controls. This includes 100% documentary and visual identity checks on all consignments. In addition EU legislation requires each Border Inspection Post to physically sample 20% of consignments of meat passing through each BIP, which may include a laboratory test. The FSA does not hold data on the original method of inspection where meat originates from a third country, outside of the UK or EU. However, in order to access the EU market third countries must be approved by the EU Commission as having ‘equivalent’ methods of inspection and hygiene standards.
Meat produced in the UK and all other member states of the EU is required to be produced and processed in accordance with EU legislation including hygiene and Hazard Analysis at Critical Control Point plans. All plants within the UK are subject to regular audit and inspection by the FSA or DARD (in Northern Ireland) to ensure compliance with these requirements. There will be similar audit and inspection by Competent Authorities in other member states.