To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what responsibility his Department has for the Meat Hygiene Service. (100832)

None. The Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) is an executive agency of the Food Standards Agency, a non-ministerial Government Department.

A service level agreement covers work carried out by the MHS on behalf of DEFRA. This includes animal identification, disease surveillance (including transmissible spongiform encephalopathy controls), animal welfare and sample taking.