News Release

9th January 2004

RISK OF FOOT AND MOUTH

Staffordshire vets have told Michael Fabricant that one of the biggest probable causes of a fresh outbreak of foot and mouth disease, which so decimated midlands farms just a short while back, is the illegal importation of infected meat and other foodstuffs. In the House of Commons yesterday (Thursday 8th January), Michael asked the Minister for Food, Ben Bradshaw: "If he visits the US, Australia, New Zealand-or indeed most other countries-he will find sniffer dogs waiting for him whose job is to detect the illegal importation of meat. The last time that I raised this matter with the Minister, he accidentally told me that the UK had more than two sniffer dogs available. I am grateful for the letter of apology that he sent to me, but will he say how many sniffer dogs we now have for the detection of the illegal importation of meat, and how many airline terminals and seaports have to be covered by them?" The Minister answered: "......In the UK, we have two sniffer dogs that are specifically allocated to the detection of illegal food imports into this country. We will soon have six such dogs, and in the next financial year we will double the amount of money made available to Customs and Excise for that purpose. I expect that the number of sniffer dogs will increase further. However, Opposition Members must realise that, in the current security climate, there has been a bit of a run on sniffer dogs and on their handlers. Their main priority has been to detect explosives, and I hope that Opposition Members will agree that that is absolutely right."

Michael Fabricant now says: "We have over 100 airline terminals and sea ports that accept people and goods from abroad. It is appalling that just six detection dogs will be available for the whole of the United Kingdom - at any one time, only 2 or 3 can be available to cover all these ports. This is complacency of the very worst kind. Other countries are also using dogs to detect explosives, but they also cover their airports and seaports with dogs to protect against the illegal importation of meat too.