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Dept of Health

Answer

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how many (a) farmed and (b) park deer were slaughtered at abattoirs in the last five years; [197322] (2) how many (a) farmed, (b) park and (c) wild deer entered the human food chain in the UK in each of the past five years; and what percentage of the carcases were subject to inspection by the Meat Hygiene Service. [197331] Miss Melanie Johnson: I have been asked to reply. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) have advised that it is not possible to determine the percentage of deer carcases in the United Kingdom which have been subject to inspection by the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) in Great Britain and Department for Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) in Northern Ireland. This is because only meat from wild deer destined for the export market is required to be processed in licensed premises and inspected by the MHS or DARD. However, operators of licensed wild game processing facilities producing wild deer intended for the domestic market can choose to have their wild deer inspected and health-marked for commercial reasons. Premises which only supply wild game to the domestic market are not licensed and are under local authority control. The number of wild deer processed in unlicensed premises or supplied directly to the final consumer are not recorded centrally. The table shows the number of deer in Great Britain that are recorded as having been slaughtered and/or processed in licensed farmed game handling facilities (the deer farm), farmed game processing facilities, red meat slaughterhouses and wild game processing facilities, and inspected by the MHS. The data for wild deer comprises carcases either for export, the domestic market (when requested by the producer) or exported in fur. Park deer are those living within an enclosed area under conditions of freedom similar to those enjoyed by wild deer. They are shot and handled as if they were wild. Information on the number of deer in Northern Ireland processed in licensed premises and inspected by DARD is not currently collected centrally. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 1 Farmed game handling and 4,296 3,605 3,464 3,153 2,175 processing facilities Red meat slaughterhouses 1,425 1,644 2,241 649 496 Wild game processing 84,403 49,452 73,308 81,826 56,524 facilities GB total 90,124 54,701 79,013 85,628 59,195 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Covers 1 January 2004 to 30 September 2004

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

426 c1472-4W;426 c1476-8W; 197322;197331

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Deer Farms Livestock Management Slaughterhouses

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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