Cheese firm cleared over safety ‘still pressured by council’

A CHEESE maker claims he is being subjected to ‘psychological pressure’ by council officers despite being cleared of breaching food safety laws.

Humphrey Errington, 73, was locked in a legal battle with South Lanarkshire Council after it called for his products to be declared unfit for human consumption and destroyed.

In 2016, an outbreak of E.coli struck down 20 Scots – killing a three-year-old girl in Dunbartonshire.

All cheeses made by Lanarkshire firm Errington Cheese were recalled after Food Standards Scotland said E.coli bacteria were found in its signature Dunsyre Blue.

The council later seized batches of Lanark Blue and Corra Linn cheese from the company farm in Carnwath.

A civil case at Hamilton Sheriff Court earlier this year heard that tests had found bacteria in both cheeses and council bosses asked for them to be labelled unsafe to eat under food safety laws. Mr Errington said the council’s action was wrong and unfair.

Sheriff Robert Weir has now ruled that Mr Errington, right, did not breach safety standards and refused to agree with the council’s request to condemn all the seized cheese. But Mr Errington says council officials have visited his farm to continue inspections despite the ruling, and ‘refused to let us take the hazard tape down’.

He said: ‘It was pointed out to them that the sheriff has made and published his judgment on the Corra Linn and Lanark Blue and that it is a complete waste of taxpayers’ money to continue to send two environmental health officers up to us for an afternoon every two weeks.

‘I can only assume this indicates that South Lanarkshire Council do not accept the sheriff’s judgment and feel the need to keep up the psychological pressure on us while they decide what to do next.’

The Crown Office said there would be no criminal proceedings because of a lack of evidence linking Errington to the death of the girl, and last month a fatal accident inquiry into her death was also ruled out.

The council said the formal order containing the sheriff ’s decision had not been issued, and ‘the situation regarding the seized cheeses remains the same until the court process is fully concluded’.