To ask the Chairman of Committees whether he will ensure that only British pork and bacon are used in House of Lords refreshment outlets.

My Lords, all House of Lords refreshment outlets serve only English pork and bacon, except for the River Restaurant, which serves Dutch bacon. This is because English bacon, at £6.71 per kilo, is considerably more expensive than Dutch, at £4.85 per kilo. If we were to serve English bacon, the cost of a rasher would increase from 25p to 45p because of the higher price and lower yield. In order to ensure value for money for our customers, the Refreshment Committee reaffirmed the Refreshment Department’s policy on 26 March.

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that reply, although there is more than a whiff of hypocrisy about it. After all, I and many others on all sides of the House have argued that it should not be a matter of price. We have urged the British consumer to buy British bacon because of the higher welfare standards that are applied in this country. Will the noble Lord also take into account the presence in Dutch bacon of a deadly form of MRSA, ST398, which can cause skin infection, heart trouble and pneumonia? Is he not putting people in this country at risk, particularly as the strain has passed from animals to humans? Indeed, when Dutch farmers go into hospital, they go into isolation. Why is he putting the British consumer and those who buy bacon in this House at risk in this way?

My Lords, the noble Lord’s first comment was to accuse me of hypocrisy, which I find slightly strange. The question is one of price. It is our job to offer value for money to our customers in the River Restaurant. The market is price-sensitive and we charge considerably less than the House of Commons, which serves British bacon. Ours is about half the price. Bearing in mind that the staff are some of the lower paid in the Palace of Westminster, I think that that is right. It is fine for people such as the noble Lord and, indeed, me to buy British bacon for ourselves, but when we are dealing with other people we have to offer value for money. As far as MRSA is concerned, I read the article in, I think, the Daily Express a couple of weeks ago. I do not think that it has been followed up by anybody else, so I do not know whether it is true or not. If it were true, it would be a matter for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and not for us to deal with.

My Lords, I do not know whether the Chairman of Committees is aware that next week is British Tomato Week. All of next week, extremely competitively priced British-produced tomatoes will be served in all the restaurants in the Palace. I note that the Question was confined to the price of bacon. Might we have a promotional event for pork products that is analogous to British Tomato Week?

My Lords, I was unaware of British Tomato Week, I must say. I am sure that British tomatoes are extremely competitively priced and extremely good, especially those that come from the Isle of Wight, as many of them do. However, as I said in my original Answer, the pork served in the House of Lords is all British; it is just the bacon where the price is completely uncompetitive.

My Lords, is the Chairman of Committees aware that we are not preparing to throw tomatoes next week, but the reason for the differential in cost between British and Dutch bacon—and, indeed bacon from other parts of the world—is that our welfare standards for keeping pigs are really good and that, by choosing bacon that is not sourced from the United Kingdom, we are not assisting the cause of animal welfare?

My Lords, I am aware of the reason for the price differential and the problems that that has caused to British farmers. Unfortunately, the decision was made many years ago that we should pre-empt the regulations that would come in for everyone. I will not comment on whether or not that was a good decision, but it leaves us in a position where British bacon is, sadly, not competitive.

My Lords, first, I declare an interest as an occasional pig keeper, although I do not make bacon from my pigs. Is the noble Lord aware that bacon cuts are often cheaper because they have lots of additives and water? Has he tried the frying test with the bacon that is used in the River Room to compare it with the British bacon that he has been buying by seeing how much it shrivels?

No, my Lords, I must admit that I have not. The test, I think, is in the consumption by the customers down in the River Room, many of whom, I must say, are not British and therefore probably do not mind where the bacon comes from. They obviously find it good value for money.

My Lords, when the noble Lord speaks of British pork being served in the premises of this House, is he talking about the source of the meat or about where it is processed and packaged? He may well be aware of the British Pig Executive’s recent claim that an astounding 70 per cent of the nearly 1 million tonnes of pork products imported to this country falls well below British animal welfare standards. Much of that is labelled as British because it is packed and processed here. What assurance can he give to Members of your Lordships’ House that we can know the true quality and the true source of all products consumed here?

My Lords, I hope that, when I said that all the pork products apart from the bacon were British, I was telling the truth and they really are British. If I find that I am wrong and that they have been imported into this country and labelled as British, that would be extremely bad news.

My Lords, is the Chairman of Committees aware that a friend of mine came back from Mexico recently thinking that he had symptoms of swine flu? He rang the NHS Direct hotline and all he got was crackling on the line.

No, my Lords, I was not aware of that.

My Lords, I will follow the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Hoyle, by saying that there is a lot of disease and antibiotic use on the continent of Europe. Members of this House will recall that this country banned the use of antibiotics for growth promotion, which had a very salutary effect. Now we learn that antibiotics are used at the end of a growth period for finishing off both pigs and poultry. Is the noble Lord aware of this and are the Government of this country doing anything comparable to the banning of growth promoters?

My Lords, I was not aware of that use of antibiotics. I am aware that we joined the Common Market some years ago, which means that we cannot distinguish between bacon and other products produced in this country and those produced in other EU countries. As I said, the problem arose a long time ago when we adopted higher standards earlier than other EU countries. When those countries come into line, no doubt we will find that British bacon is again competitive with continental bacon.