BSE

House of Lords written question – answered at on 15 January 2002.

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Photo of Baroness Byford Baroness Byford Conservative

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Which companies have been found to have imported meat containing BSE specified risk material in the past two years.

Photo of Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Health, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health)

Since the introduction of harmonised European Union-wide controls on specified risk materials (SRMs) in October 2000, there have been 23 instances where consignments of meat imported into the United Kingdom from other EU member states have been found to contain SRM. In all but one case the SRM concerned was spinal cord.

In each case the importing company was not responsible for the problem. Under EU rules it is the responsibility of the slaughterhouse operator to ensure the removal of all spinal cord and other specified risk material before the meat is placed on the market or traded.

The names of the importing companies involved are set out in the following table.

Name of Importing Company No. of consignments of imported meat found to contain SRM
ABP Newry Co. Down Northern Ireland 2
Anglo Dutch Meats Eastbourne Sussex 13
Blackpool Abattoir Blackpool Lancashire 1
Cumberland Meat Packers Ltd Coventry 1
Dungannon Meats Larne Northern Ireland 1
Great Harwood Food Products Blackburn Lancashire 2
Matheson Jess Ltd Dundee Scotland 1
Najib & Sons Foston Derbyshire 1 (ovine SRM)
St Merryn Meats (Victoria) Cornwall 1

In addition, there have been six instances where beef imported into Northern Ireland from the Republic of Ireland was found to contain SRM. In these cases the names of the importing companies have not been published.

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