Written question asked by Baroness Byford (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Rooker (Labour) on Monday, 10 March 2008.

Agriculture: Foot and Mouth Disease

Question: asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the pigswill feed identified at the start of the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak has been tested for that virus.

Answer: Testing of swill for the presence of the foot and mouth disease (FMD) virus was not carried out, either on a general or specific basis. The noble Baroness may be aware that more than one inquiry into the 2001 FMD outbreak found that there were strong grounds for concluding it was caused by feeding unprocessed swill to pigs at the index premises. All the epidemiological evidence points towards this being the correct conclusion, although the body of evidence would not include empirical results from testing of swill. However, testing of unprocessed swill for the presence of the FMD virus would be of limited value. The chances of detecting FMD in a batch of swill, if present, would be minimal and would not help reliably to establish the absence of such virus with any degree of confidence. With such a virulent disease, a little virus goes a long way, and as we have seen, its presence combined with any failure in processing requirements has disastrous consequences. Once the FMD epidemic unfolded in 2001, it became imperative that the ban on swill feeding should be introduced urgently. This was due to the background level of virus which would have been present. Testing of batches of swill prior to processing would not have helped in those circumstances. The greatly increased risks with its use needed to be curtailed as soon as it was practicably possible.

Secondary information