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<p>We acknowledge that there may be an expectation that the House of Commons should
be buying British wherever possible, but as a contracting authority as specified in
the European Parliament and Council Directive, we are subject to EU Public Sector
Procurement directives. It is therefore impossible for us to demand that we wish to
buy only British products simply on the merits of origin and must instead ensure that
our specifications at tender stage, and ultimately our decision to award a contract,
does not discriminate against products or supplies from other EU member states.</p><p>The
vast majority of fresh products purchased by Catering are in fact British – meat,
poultry, dairy, eggs and most fruit and vegetables (when in season) are sourced from
within the UK. We demand that UK or equivalent standards of welfare and/or production
must be met as this is a consideration of quality rather than origin. UK standards
on the whole are easy to follow, robust, commonly accepted and enforced across each
sector.</p>
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