National Control Plan official sampling is done annually as per legislative requirements. The British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) are an approved Industry Control Body for their own assurance scheme members and their annual official sampling is carried out by their auditors NSF International. Non-BEIC producers are sampled by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).<\/p>
<\/p>
In 2018, APHA completed all official sampling on non-BEIC laying farms in the timescales required. 2019 sampling for non-BEIC laying farms is also on track for completion within the timescales required.<\/p>
<\/p>
As part of routine regulatory inspections APHA inspectors audit each egg producer\u2019s salmonella sampling records in order to review operator sampling. Where late or missed sampling is identified a penalty notice will be issued. In addition, where there is no clear current test present at the time of the inspection, the inspector will immediately take the appropriate samples for testing and will serve a notice applying restrictions to the eggs pending a clear test result.<\/p>
<\/p>
The number of penalty notices that have been raised against producers in England are:<\/p>
<\/p>
01/06/16-31/05/17 - 30.<\/p>
01/06/17-31/05/18 - 44.<\/p>
01/06/18-31/05/19 - 35.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4062", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Richmond Park"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Zac Goldsmith"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-10-01", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-10-01T17:57:44.377Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "13"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-09-25", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Eggs: Salmonella"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the number of scheduled tests for salmonella in eggs that were (a) carried out behind schedule and (b) not carried out.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/308", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Coventry South"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Mr Jim Cunningham"} ], "uin" : "290637"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1145533", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1145533/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
We have national programmes to control salmonella in poultry and protect public health, which require regular sampling of laying flocks. Where laying flock samples test positive for regulated strains of salmonella, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) will alert the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Public Health England (PHE) and restrictions on the eggs will be put in place to protect public health which will apply for the life of the affected flock. Eggs from such flocks cannot be sold as fresh table eggs, but must be either processed by heat treatment to eliminate salmonella before entering the food chain, or disposed of outside the food chain as Animal by Products.<\/p>
<\/p>
The General Food Law EU Regulation 178/2002 will be transferred into UK law at the point of exit by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act. Inoperabilities in 178/2002 have been addressed by The General Food Law (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. EU Regulation 178/2002 lays down that food placed on the market must be safe to eat - it must not be \u2018injurious to health\u2019 or \u2018unfit for human consumption\u2019. Food businesses are required to notify the competent authorities, such as the local authority or the FSA, if they suspect that a product placed on the market does not comply with safety requirements. When Salmonella infection is confirmed in a laying flock the FSA works with industry, APHA and local authorities to ensure appropriate action is taken to safeguard public health.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4062", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Richmond Park"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Zac Goldsmith"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-10-07", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-10-07T16:34:02.167Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "13"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-09-24", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Eggs: Salmonella"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that eggs infected with salmonella do not reach consumers.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/308", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Coventry South"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Mr Jim Cunningham"} ], "uin" : "290282"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }