To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what length of time there was between her Department receiving information from Cranswick plc that was required for the approval of the export of pigs' trotters to China before her Department provided that information to the Chinese authorities.
Answered on
25 July 2016
The Chinese authorities requested information relating to the whole UK pork industry, involving the collation of information from a number of different companies. Once the necessary information was received from all pork companies involved, via AHDB, this was reviewed and verified by Defra and submitted to the Chinese authorities with accompanying competent authority assurances. The information was submitted to the Chinese authorities as soon as it was ready, following review and verification by Defra, meaning that it was sent in four separate tranches. Information relating to Cranswick specifically was first received on 21 December 2015 and submitted the following morning. The second tranche was received on 26 January and contained a large amount of detailed information from all the companies involved. This required extensive review and verification by Defra and was sent on 3 March. The third set of information was received on 24 March and once the necessary verification had taken place was submitted on 4 April. The final set of information was received on 24 June and submitted to the Chinese authorities on 27 June.