SAINSBURY’S & TESCO SUPERMARKET LETTERS

SAINSBURY’S To date we have not received a reply to our letter to Sainsbury’s, dated 21st December, but due to Christmas we expected this. We were however surprised to find that Sainsbury’s had a product recall on 22nd December of their Taste the Difference Aberdeen Angus Quarter Pounder Burgers. This appears to be due to a scare regarding the product containing E.coli O157. Twelve people appear to have been effected, but reports suggest that Public Health England have stated that these people have now recovered. If so, we are pleased to hear that this is the case, because this bacterium can prove to be extremely dangerous; if it progresses to a condition called Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome, it can cause kidney failure, brain damage and can even be fatal. Link below to product recall. TESCO Today we sent a letter to Tesco regarding ‘Keeping Meat Hygiene Inspections Independent’. Tesco is the largest supermarket chain in the UK. The letter is shown below and follows exactly the same contents of the previous Sainsbury’s letter. It will be interesting to see their response, due to the recent hygiene scares in the media and due to the problems they appear to have had with some of their Christmas turkeys this year. There is a link below where you can read more about this issue. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=rotten+turkeys+sold+by+tesco&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari As and when we receive responses from both companies, we will let you know on the petition what they have to say. If you use Twitter or Facebook, we would very much appreciate you sharing this post. Alternatively, if you wish to bring this letter to the attention of your local store manager, this would be greatly appreciated. Finally, thank you all for your comments & support. Wishing you a happy new year. Tesco Letter: Mr D. Lewis Chief Excecutive officer Tesco PLC Falcon Way Shire Park Welwyn Garden City Hertfordshire Don’t Risk lives-Keep Meat Hygiene Inspections Independent. https://www.change.org/p/don-t-risk-lives-keep-meat-inspections-independent Dear Sir, We are sure that your company is aware of the meat hygiene scandals that have recently been in the media, namely the chicken plant in West Bromwich, (covered by the Guardian and ITV News) that appears to supply your company and the “Blowing the whistle on the Meat Industry” by the Bureau of Investigative Jounalism & ITV. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) are planning to reduce the frequency of meat hygiene inspections, reduce the number of directly employed Meat Hygiene Inspectors (MHIs) in slaughterhouses and to continue the practice of them not being present in cutting plants, through a freeze on recruiting new MHIs. This will mean more official controls will be in the private sector, which does not appear to be what your customers support, as a UNISON meat inspection survey by COMRES indicated in December 2016. When the public were asked in this survey whether “Slaughterhouses should be required to have their food safety and quality standards independently assessed by external Government inspectors”, 87% agreed. Also in this survey, in relation to fewer inspections, 74% of adults across all political persuasions in England and Wales, said they would be concerned about changes that would see fewer independent inspections by FSA vets and inspectors, and more inspections by private contractors & slaughterhouse themselves. We believe the survey suggests that the public do not trust the industry that produces the meat to be independent, but they do trust Government employed MHIs. Given the above, do Tesco believe the FSA are taking the best course of action to protect the public from foodborne illness, is by reducing independent meat hygiene inspection services, or do Tesco believe the FSA’s course of action is wrong? We would be happy to have your company’s view on this. We also wish wish to know if Tesco believe that they have a moral obligation to ensure their suppliers meet all hygiene regulations, and if so how you take pracitcal steps to achieve this? The public, as well as our small national charity, have some serious concerns which are demonstated by the petition above. This petition has reached over 101,000 votes of support to date. We look forward to your response. Yours faithfully, Steve Nash