To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many meetings there have been between scientists representing the UK Government and the European Commission to agree the definitions of curd cheese; what the (a) date and (b) location was of each meeting; what other UK scientific procedures or definitions have been disputed by the European Commission; what instructions the European Commission has issued as a result of such disputes; how many production units have been closed as a result of such instructions; and what compensation is available to UK cheese producers closed as a result of action taken by the European Commission. (112752)

There have been no meetings between United Kingdom Government representatives and the European Commission to discuss the definition of curd cheese. There have been, and it is expected there will continue to be, discussions about the procedures for testing milk for antibiotic residues, about cheese recovery operations and about the placing on the market of foodstuffs intended for further processing before consumption. The European Commission has not recently issued any new instructions about practices in the dairy sector, but it did adopt Commission Decision 2006/694/EC, the preamble (recitals) to which set down how the Commission intends the controls on antibiotics in milk should operate within the Community. The decision required all member states to prohibit the placing on the market of curd cheese manufactured by Bowland Dairy Products Ltd. of Barrowford, Lancashire, and the question of compensation is a matter for it to pursue with the Commission.