What action it will take to standardise food hygiene regulations to ensure that food safety requirements do not disadvantage game processor…

I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that the current legislation governing wild game processing will be revoked, and replaced by horizontal food hygiene legislation on 1 January 2006. These new rules, which aim to consolidate and simplify existing food hygiene legislation, will apply across the EU. All game processors involved in wholesaling operations will then be subject to the same requirements, regardless of the market that they are supplying.
Certain exemptions are made from the new legislation whereby member states are required to set national rules to cover the direct supply, by the producer of small quantities of wild game and wild game meat to the final consumer or to local retail establishments directly supplying the final consumer. These exemptions are made in recognition of the close relationships that can exist between producers and consumers. The EU legislation requires that national rules must be in place in relation to these exemptions to achieve the objectives of the EU regulations, and the FSA intends that the hygiene provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 will apply.