Problems at chicken plant ‘not one-off’ MPs’ concern over food giant
THE past record of the 2 Sisters Food Group is “far from pristine” and problems at its chicken plant at the centre of an inquiry are “not a one-off ”, MPs have concluded.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee chairman Neil Parish said the inquiry should act as a “wake-up call” for all accreditation firms based on its finding that there was no systematic process for combining the various assessments of the UK’s largest supplier of supermarket chicken.
The inquiry also found that Assured Food Standards, which licenses the Red Tractor quality mark, did not “immediately and especially” inform the Food Standards Agency (FSA) after it suspended 2 Sisters’s accreditation.
2 Sisters owner Ranjit Singh Boparan appeared before the parliamentary committee last month as part of an inquiry following an undercover investigation by ITV News and The Guardian into standards at the firm’s West Bromwich plant.
An undercover reporter working at the site claimed to witness workers tampering with slaughter dates, mixing meat of different ages and changing source codes on crates of meat, practices that can artificially extend the product’s shelf life and make it untraceable in the event of an outbreak of food poisoning.
The evidence sessions looked at the issues raised at the 2 Sisters plant and the role and performance of the Food Standards Agency, Sandwell Metropolitan Council and accreditation bodies and also investigated the potential ramifications for the poultry sector and the wider food chain.
The report said: “The problems identified at the 2 Sisters plant at West Bromwich are not a one-off. The past record of the 2 Sisters Food Group is far from pristine and there are valid questions to be asked of its corporate governance structure.” Mr Parish said: “Our inquiry should serve as a wake-up call for all accreditation firms and cause them to improve their processes and remove any loopholes that may exist, not just those discovered through our inquiry. Large producers and retailers have a responsibility to protect, rather than undermine, the UK’s food producers.” The report said Mr Boparan wrote to the committee on November 10 to confirm commitments he made during his hearing, including placing a full-time FSA inspector in the West Bromwich plant as well as all his other plants.
He had also committed to inviting the committee to make either an announced or unannounced visit to a 2 Sisters Food Group plant, installing CCTV with complete coverage in all plants within 120 days, and implanting mystery workers into all factories by the end of January next year to identify any employees breaking site rules.