Spoiled meat may have been sold to customers in British supermarkets to investigate ‘contract’ claims as authorities pounce on a supplier accused of selling expired pork to stores including Tesco, Asda and M&S
- The allegations emerged after a National Food Crime Unit investigation
- The company supplied the product to supermarkets, schools, and hospitals
- Former employees of the company say that pork that was clear was washed regularly, and that moldy pork was mixed with fresh product for processing.
A British meat processor, which supplies supermarkets, schools and hospitals, has been accused of passing off huge quantities of potentially unsafe foreign meat as British.
It is understood the National Food Crime Unit, part of the Food Standards Agency, has launched a major investigation.
Consumers have been kept informed of the potential huge scandal, while a major industry trade body has expressed outrage at not being told of the investigation.
Details emerged some ten years after the crisis in which horsemeat was passed off as beef and sold in burgers and takeaways by supermarkets, including Tesco, and fast food chains.
These allegations have been exposed before Farmers Weekly It is based on testimony from workers employed by the company, who have not been named pending possible trial.
Former employees have accused the company of regularly “washing” once-clear pork, and mixing moldy pork with fresh produce for further processing.
Other products such as ox tongues were not properly processed, and meat was sometimes thawed on the factory floor
Other products such as ox tongues were not properly processed, and meat was sometimes thawed on the factory floor.
The papers for the sampling, which would capture dangerous food bugs like listeria and E. coli, were also allegedly falsified.
Schools, hospitals, nursing homes and prisons were also indirectly supplied, with one source claiming that the most rotten meat would end up there.
“It used to get me to a point where I was thinking ‘We’re going to kill somebody,’” one anonymous employee told Farmers Weekly. “There were days when I would sit outside in my car crying because I didn’t want to get in. It was that bad.” There is no indication that any of the therapist’s clients were aware of the criminal practices, which took place for at least two decades up to 2020 and possibly beyond.
The head of the National Food Crime Unit, Darren Davies, said retailers were told of the problem last year, however, there has been no public announcement of the potential massive scandal.
Schools, hospitals, nursing homes and prisons were also indirectly supplied, with one source claiming that most rotten meat would end up there (Stock Image)
He said: ‘The National Food Crime Unit of the Free Syrian Army is conducting a criminal investigation into how a supplier allegedly provided products labeled British when in fact they were obtained from elsewhere.
The Financial Services Authority last year advised retailers to check their cooked meat supply chain and apply more due diligence in their checks. We do not give these alerts without reason.
Food wholesale companies made by the processor have expressed shock at the allegations and are conducting their own investigations.
The Independent Meat Providers Association (Aims), which represents the processors, has accused the food crime unit of failing to alert them to their investigation.
‘It is inexcusable that food manufacturers and foodservice companies, some of which supply some of society’s most vulnerable consumers, have not been alerted at any time yet by the NCU about the existence of either. Possibility to describe fraud or danger to public health.
