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Agriculture: Animal Welfare and Origin Marking

Question for Department for Business and Trade

UIN 8620, tabled on 8 January 2024

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to help protect farmers from competition from countries with lower animal welfare standards; and what steps she is taking to help ensure that food labelling accurately reflects the origin of produce.

Answered on

11 January 2024

HM Government is committed to uphold our high standards of food in any trade deal. All food and drink products imported into the UK must comply with our import requirements and regulatory standards for food safety.

Country of origin information is already required for a range of fresh and frozen meat products, as well as for uncut fresh fruit and vegetables, honey, olive oil and wine.

At the Oxford Farming Conference, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced a rapid consultation to gather views on how we can make packaging information clearer. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will announce more details on this in due course.

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