Agriculture: Carcasses

Question

Asked by

Lord Taylor of Holbeach
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the estimated saving resulting from the implementation of the Food Standards Agency's recommendations to ease the controls surrounding the treatment of cattle carcasses. [HL4661]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham)
The estimated saving from implementation of the decision taken by the Food Standards Agency board on 12 May 2009 to move to more proportionate, risk-based supervision of official bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) controls for cattle aged over 30 months (OTM), is up to £3 million per annum once all measures have been implemented. The cost of all official BSE controls for OTM cattle is currently funded by the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs.

The changes which will deliver the saving will be implemented and monitored on a phased basis to verify that food business operators are compliant, that there is no loss of control and that the current high level of consumer protection is maintained.