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

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the proposed Common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Area with the European Union will include provisions to restrict or ban the use of added nitrites in processed meats, in the light of scientific evidence linking nitrites to cancer.

As outlined in the 19 May UK-EU Summit common understanding document, an SPS Agreement will cover sanitary and phytosanitary standards and controls and also wider agrifood rules related to food labelling, organics, and key marketing standards and compositional standards- as well as pesticides. The details of the Agreement are subject to negotiation, but the Government is committed to high food standards.