Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what was the process for declaring imports of (a) Orchidaceae, (b) Dendranthema, (c) Dianthus, (d) Gypsophila and (e) Solidago from the EU as medium risk.

Defra have undertaken the risk modelling necessary to categorise commodities, advised by an expert panel comprised of risk analysts, risk managers and policy representatives from the Animal and Plant Health Agency, the Food Standards Agency (which advises the UK and Welsh Governments), and Food Standards Scotland, alongside public health and disease control policy experts from the UK Health Security Agency and from the UK, Welsh and Scottish Governments.

The categorisation is based on the inherent risk (high, medium or low) that the commodity poses to animal and plant health, food safety, alongside any specific risk from the country/region of origin. The categorisation approach draws on a range of data including disease outbreak data, known public health risks, transmission data, trade restrictions, non-compliance data and our confidence in the exporting country’s production standards and health controls, among other sources.