FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY TO LAUCH A REVIEW INTO MEAT CUTTING PLANTS AND SUPERMARKET LETTER UPDATES

On the 1st February the Food Standards Agency (FSA) announced a review of Cutting Plants and Cold Stores. They said “The review, which will be established later this month, comes in the wake of serious non-compliance issues identified at cutting plants operated by 2 Sisters Food Group and Russell Hume, and will be industry wide”. They also said “Further details will be published later this month and the results will be fully available to the public”. The link to this is below: https://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2018/16881/review-of-cutting-plants-and-cold-stores Has this recent review occurred because the FSA was recently criticised by a committee of MPs, for failing to take “definite action” to improve good standards, following a Guardian and ITV undercover investigation last year? Please see the link below. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/feb/01/uk-launches-nationwide-review-of-meat-processing-plants Whilst I welcome the review, and the results being made available to the public, it raises two questions for me: 1. Does the FSA act only on bad publicity and criticism? 2. Given the FSA launched their proposed way of “Regulating our Future” at a Parliamentary reception in October 2017, do they now need to review this also in order to protect the consumers? Please see the link below. https://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2017/16652/fsa-chair-updates-parliamentarians-on-regulating-our-future TESCO As previously stated, we received a response to our letter to Mr D. Lewis, Chief Executive Officer, dated 28th December 2017 on 24th January 2018. They stated in their reply from the Chief Executive’s Office, “ I thought it may be helpful to privately share our perspective on this issue with you”. In addition, they said in their reply “Thank you again for taking the time to write to us. If you would like to discuss this issue further, I would be very happy to put you in touch with the appropriate colleagues in our technical team”. They appear reluctant to share their views publically. In addition their technical team has not come back to us as I requested on the 24th January 2018. I therefore can only assume that they do not want the public to know their view(s). LIDL We have had no reply from Lidl after e-mailing them back on 27th January. They have made no mention of their views on keeping meat hygiene inspections independent. We still await their clarification. THE CO-OPERATIVE We sent our letter to the Co-op’s Chief Executive, Mr S Murrells on 11-1-2018, and are still awaiting a response. WAITROSE We sent our 7th supermarket letter to Waitrose on 1st February 2018. Letter below. “Mr R Collins Managing Director Waitrose Doncastle Road, Southern Industrial Area, Bracknell RG12 8YA Dear Sir, Don’t Risk lives Keep meat Hygiene inspections Independent. https://www.change.org/p/don-t-risk-lives-keep-meat-inspections-independent We are sure that your company is aware of the meat hygiene scandals that were in the media last year, namely the chicken plant in West Bromwich, (covered by the Guardian and ITV News) and the “Blowing the whistle on the Meat Industry” by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and ITV. In addition, this year a meat supplier who sold to well known public house chains, restaurants & schools etc has been in the news for what has been called a “serious non-compliance with food hygiene regulations”. 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 being 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 & slaughterhouses themselves. I 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 Waitrose 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 Waitrose believe the FSA’s course of action is wrong? I would be happy to have your company’s view on this. I would also like to know if Waitrose believe that they have a moral obligation to ensure their suppliers meet all hygiene regulations, and if so how you take practical steps to achieve this? Both the public and I, have some serious concerns, which are demonstrated by the petition above. This petition has reached over 102,500 votes of support to date. I look forward to your response. Yours faithfully, Steve Nash” Please keep on using Twitter or Facebook, to promote this petition. As you can see, pressure is starting to be effective on the FSA. The supermarkets and other businesses supplying the consumer, I believe, need to ensure they protect the consumer by having independent inspections and audits. This should be achieved by having inspections by directly employed government staff, who are able to make decisions without fear or favour. If you wish to bring this update to the attention of your local store(s) managers, this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all so much, for your continued comments & support. We could not have got so far without each vote. This definitely spurs us on to keep going!