European Parliament
President.
The Commissioner has taken note of the honourable Member’s statement, which is not a question. We will proceed to the second part of this Question Time. Two Commissioners will reply, starting with Mr Byrne.
Part II
Questions to Commissioner Byrne
Question No 37 by Bart Staes 
Subject: Addition of water (and protein) to meat (chicken)
On 1 July 2003, the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs said in Parliament that he had asked his services 'to consider the development of standards for meat preparations that would limit the amount of water that can be added to such products and the use of animal proteins for the purpose of bulking. My intention is to analyse the work that has been undertaken by my services, to determine what further work can be done.'
Now that a good four months have passed since that Parliamentary debate, can the Commission inform us of the current situation, including the practical measures it has already taken to protect consumers and increase their awareness of such meat fraud?

