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Dept of Health

Answer

Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether irradiation treatment of (a) fruit, (b) vegetables, (c) cereals, (d) bulbs and tubers, (e) spices and condiments, (f) fish and shellfish and (g) poultry is permitted in the UK. [205252] Miss Melanie Johnson: Under current United Kingdom food irradiation regulations1 any person can apply for a licence to irradiate food that falls within the following categories: (a) fruit (includes fungi, tomatoes and rhubarb); (b) vegetables (includes pulses); (c) cereals; (d) bulbs and tubers (potatoes, yams, onions, shallots and garlic); (e) spices and condiments (dried substances normally used for seasoning); (f) fish and shellfish (includes eels, crustaceans and molluscs); (g) poultry (domestic fowls, geese, ducks, guinea fowls, pigeons, quails and turkeys). At present, only one UK irradiation facility holds a licence to irradiate food and this licence permits the irradiation of a range of dried herbs, spices and seasonings at a facility in Swindon. Dried spices and condiments are currently the only foods that can be irradiated in the UK. The schedules to the food irradiation regulations set out what is required in an application for a food irradiation licence and it is the Food Standards Agency who consider applications and who inspect food irradiation facilities in the UK. Sources: 1 The Food (Control of Irradiation) Regulations 1990 as amended. The Food (Control of Irradiation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992 as amended.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

205252; 428 c1479W;428 c1477W

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Cereals Food Fish Fruit Regulation Salt Shellfish Herbs and spices Vegetables Irradiation Bulbs

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk