MP to demand welfare labels on food
15 December 1999
MP to demand welfare labels on food
By Alistair Driver
MORE informative food labelling laws will be demanded by Stephen OBrien, the Tory MP for Eddisbury, Cheshire, on Thursday (16 December).
Mr OBrian will introduce a Private Members Bill, supported by the National Pig Association, arguing that the pig industry is being devastated by imports.
The association has long claimed that many pigmeat imports do not match up to the animal welfare standards imposed in the UK and are inadequately labelled.
Mr OBrien took up the cause after a letter from NPA chairman John Godfrey, who wrote to MPs successful in a ballot to present a Private Members Bill.
Mr Godfrey wants a new law to require food manufacturers and distributors to distinguish the conditions under which their source material is produced.
“A similar law, just introduced in Switzerland, requires imported meat and eggs to declare its conformity with Swiss standards,” Mr Godfrey wrote.
“We are convinced that better labelling is the only way to differentiate between the differing production standards of different farmers.”
An honest labelling bill would have widespread popular support after a petition collected more than 30,000 signatures in support of the move, he said.
The NPA petition aims to collect one million signatures in the next 12 months, but it is questionable whether the private bill on food labelling will succeed.
Time constraints in the House of Commons are severe and private bills often run out of time because government business has priority.