Vol. 524 No. 6
195 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development whether he has satisfied himself that adequate steps have been taken to protect the meat industry and alleviate health concerns arising from BSE; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23662/00]
I am satisfied that our meat trade and the public health of consumers is protected, in a BSE context, by the range of controls in place at both production and processing levels. These include provisions for comprehensive follow-up action to be taken when BSE suspect animals are detected and are underpinned by a regime of inspections, sampling and laboratory analysis. My Department has recently augmented existing protections by the introduction of an active surveillance programme which features a highly reliable, rapid test for the BSE prion.
