Jamie’s Italian pulled dishes over out-of-date meat fears
JAMIE’S ITALIAN restaurant chain was forced to remove meat dishes from its menu this week because its supplier may have sold it out-of-date products, food watchdogs have said.
Following a 12-day investigation into meat supplier Russell Hume, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) finally revealed it ordered the firm to stop selling meat after identifying a range of concerns relating to procedures and processes around “use by” dates.
In the UK it is illegal to intentionally or unintentionally sell out-of-date meat, which is dangerous to eat because it can cause serious illness even if it is stored correctly and looks, smells and tastes fine, according to the FSA’S own advice.
Despite potentially out-of-date food having been sold by Russell Hume there is no indication that people have become ill from eating the meat it supplied. The food scandal has hit the UK’S biggest restaurant chains including Wetherspoons, Hilton Hotels and Greene King, as well as care homes and schools. Many were forced to withdraw meat dishes from their menus and complained they had been left in the dark as to the reasons behind the recall.
Last night Wetherspoons had reportedly cancelled its contract with the supplier, according to the BBC.
When Russell Hume first warned its customers there was a problem with the meat it said there had been a “mislabelling” problem but refused to divulge further.
It emerged yesterday that the Food Standards Agency had been investigating the firm for several days before affected restaurants were told there was an issue.
On Thursday, MPS demanded to know why the food safety watchdog had taken so long to alert diners, while experts questioned the secrecy surrounding the reasons for the recall.
An FSA spokesman said: “Food hygiene regulations say that businesses must have systems in place to ensure their products are safe.
“Russell Hume failed to demonstrate to us that they had an effective food safety management system. That is why we took action to stop further production at the sites and detain potentially affected products, until they can satisfy us that they have appropriate systems in place.”
Jason Feeney, the chief executive officer of the FSA, said: “We don’t take decisions to stop production, instigate product recalls or withdrawals lightly.
“Our job is to ensure that food produced by a business is safe and clearly we must take a proportionate approach.”
The Daily Telegraph has attempted to contact Russell Hume for a statement.
A spokesman at Jamie’s Italian claimed no affected food had been served at any Jamie’s Italian restaurant thanks to its extra traceability checks.