HUNT ORDERS POULTRY FACTORIES PROBE
A safety audit of two poultry factories has been ordered by the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt following an investigation that uncovered alleged hygiene failings at the processing plants.
Incidents including a factory floor flooded with the guts of chickens and carcasses coming into contact with workers' boots and then being returned to the production line were reported earlier this week by the Guardian.
The newspaper said its report, related to allegations at 2 Sisters Food Group and Faccenda, was based on undercover footage, photographic evidence and information from whistleblowers over five months relating to industry hygiene standards to prevent the contamination of chicken with the campylobacter bug.
Both companies denied the allegations.
A Food Standards Agency (FSA) review of the evidence found "no risk to public health", a spokeswoman for Mr Hunt said, but she added that 2 Sisters Food Group plants at Llangefni and Scunthorpe will be audited in the next 24 hours.
"We want the public to feel reassured that the food they buy is safe. The Food Standards Agency has already reviewed the Guardian's evidence and found no risk to public health," said the spokeswoman.
"In addition, the FSA has agreed, at the request of the Secretary of State for Health, to conduct a full safety audit of the facility. They will start in the next 24 hours and report back shortly."
Investigators will look at CCTV footage from the plants, and the investigation could result in a written warning or even prosecution depending on the outcome.
Following the publication of the evidence this week three of the UK's major supermarkets - Tesco, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer - launched investigations into their chicken supplies.
The most recent figures from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) suggested that 65% of raw shop-bought chicken was contaminated with campylobacter, the most common identified cause of food poisoning in the UK with symptoms including diarrhoea and stomach cramps.
Although cooking chicken properly kills the bug, it is responsible for more than 300,000 cases of food poisoning and 15,000 hospitalisations a year in England and Wales.
