Verbatim report of proceedings
SITTING OF TUESDAY, 30 MARCH 2004
Food hygiene
Hudghton (Verts/ALE)
– Consumers are entitled to demand that the food they buy and eat
is as safe as it can be, and I fully support that principle but, in our
anxiety to put in place regulations which will work, giving consumers the
guarantees they require, we should not throw out existing measures which
are already proving effective.
I find it unbelievable that the present independent meat
inspection system in the UK could be bettered by adopting the same style
of controls currently operating in the poultry sector. To anyone who has
visited a modern poultry processor, it will be obvious that the process is
entirely different from that which applies in an abattoir.
Of course I accept that controls are put in place from farm
to plate, but surely it makes sense to retain those parts of the chain
which are successful, and to add in controls in areas where improvement is
seen to be required. For that reason I will be opposing the parts of this
package which would dismantle or privatise the independent meat inspection
service. |
