Chicken firm halts work after hygiene investigation

THE chicken supplier at the centre of a hygiene scandal suspended production yesterday.

An investigation had revealed health and safety breaches at the 2 Sisters Food Group (2SFG) plant in West Bromwich. Workers were recorded changing date labels so products could be eaten by customers after their ‘use by’ date.

Chicken was put back on the production line after falling on the floor, and older meat was mixed with fresh meat. The firm said it would restart work only when staff had been ‘appropriately retrained’.

Marks & Spencer, Aldi, Lidl and Tesco all stopped using the supplier after the revelations from The Guardian and ITV.

Yesterday 2SFG said it saw the footage for the first time on Thursday and began an internal investigation that was independently reviewed by the Food Standards Agency.

The company said its investigation had ‘shown some isolated instances of non-compliance with our own quality management systems’ and so it would suspend operations temporarily. The Food Standards Agency said it had found no evidence of breaches in its inspection since the allegations.