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Dept of Health

Answer

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussion he has had with colleagues in other Government Departments on (a) the level of illegal meat imports into the UK and (b) the effectiveness of controls and enforcement measures at (i) ports, (ii) airports and (iii) elsewhere to tackle illegal meat imports; and what assessment he has made of the need for further action. [19305] Yvette Cooper: [holding answer 29 November 2001]: The Food Standards Agency, which is responsible for public health issues relating to food safety, is taking an active role in an interdepartmental review led by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs aimed at co-ordinating action across Government to ensure that rules governing imports of products of animal origin are enforced effectively. The board of the Food Standards Agency discussed the issue of food import controls on 22 October 2001. The board approved a report containing a set of proposals aimed at improving the co-ordination of controls and the effectiveness of inspection of food imports. FSA officials are exploring these proposals further and will report back to the board.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

377 c441-2W; 19305

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Airports Enforcement Government departments Import controls Imports Ports Meat Smuggling

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk