Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the amount that is planned to be spent by the Food Standards Agency on trichinella testing in each of the next five years.

The cost of trichinella testing is dependent on the number of pigs slaughtered in any given year. In 2018/19 approximately £565,000 was spent on trichinella testing of which £275,000 was recovered through charges for official controls.

The current requirements for trichinella testing will be maintained when the United Kingdom leaves the European Union and although the Food Standards Agency works in a dynamic environment with costs dependent on many factors, there is no evidence to suggest that expenditure will change significantly over the next five-year period.