Question
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, what plans he has to revise his Department's advice on the safety of milk following the finding of abnormal prion protein in the appendix of a patient in Torbay.
Answer
Mr. Duncan: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to revise his Department's advice on the safety of milk following the finding of abnormal prion protein in the appendix of a patient in Torbay; and if he will make a statement. [57000] Ms Jowell: I have been asked to reply. We have no plans to revise present advice relating to the safety of milk. The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) advises Government on all matters connected with Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies. As part of its remit SEAC is kept informed of new scientific findings and keeps its advice on matters under review. At its meeting in April it re-affirmed earlier advice in relation to milk that no further measures were needed to protect public health. The finding of the abnormal prion protein in the appendix of a patient who subsequently died of new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease tells us nothing about the possibility of infectivity being present in cow's milk. Furthermore milk from clinically affected cattle has been tested by bioassay in mice and no evidence of infectivity has been found.