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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/29/the-guardian-view-on-food-standards-the-cost-of-competition
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| The Guardian view on food standards: the cost of competition | The Guardian view on food standards: the cost of competition |
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| For almost every meat eater, chicken is the great standby. Every day, more than 2 million birds are consumed: spiced up as drumsticks or curry-sauced thighs or succulently ham-wrapped breasts. But there is perhaps no other area of food production where what we eat has become so distant from what happens to it on the way to the plate. It is not a process for the faint-hearted: and as an investigation by the Guardian and ITV has found, it can also break the law. | For almost every meat eater, chicken is the great standby. Every day, more than 2 million birds are consumed: spiced up as drumsticks or curry-sauced thighs or succulently ham-wrapped breasts. But there is perhaps no other area of food production where what we eat has become so distant from what happens to it on the way to the plate. It is not a process for the faint-hearted: and as an investigation by the Guardian and ITV has found, it can also break the law. |
| Undercover reporters who took jobs with 2 Sisters Food Group (2SFG) found workers at the company’s processing plant in West Bromwich packing chicken pieces that had been picked up off the floor, mixing fresh with less-fresh meat and fiddling key information about slaughter dates in a way that might have meant customers were misled about use-by dates. It ought to shame the industry. But on past evidence, it is hard to believe that it will. | Undercover reporters who took jobs with 2 Sisters Food Group (2SFG) found workers at the company’s processing plant in West Bromwich packing chicken pieces that had been picked up off the floor, mixing fresh with less-fresh meat and fiddling key information about slaughter dates in a way that might have meant customers were misled about use-by dates. It ought to shame the industry. But on past evidence, it is hard to believe that it will. |
| For this is not the first such scandal: two years ago, another Guardian investigation at a different site run by the same company found offal piled up in processing areas and other breaches of food hygiene that could have spread the campylobacter bacteria which contaminates most uncooked chicken. Nor are the problems unique to poultry. In a scandal involving other food processors, two men were jailed for their part in a conspiracy to pass off horsemeat as beef. The wrongdoing was first exposed by the Guardian nearly five years ago. That investigation triggered a detailed report from Professor Chris Elliott, which demanded urgent and comprehensive change to the policing of food safety. One result was a National Food Crime Unit, set up in 2015 within the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to keep the food chain honest – but it is without prosecution powers. That has to change. | For this is not the first such scandal: two years ago, another Guardian investigation at a different site run by the same company found offal piled up in processing areas and other breaches of food hygiene that could have spread the campylobacter bacteria which contaminates most uncooked chicken. Nor are the problems unique to poultry. In a scandal involving other food processors, two men were jailed for their part in a conspiracy to pass off horsemeat as beef. The wrongdoing was first exposed by the Guardian nearly five years ago. That investigation triggered a detailed report from Professor Chris Elliott, which demanded urgent and comprehensive change to the policing of food safety. One result was a National Food Crime Unit, set up in 2015 within the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to keep the food chain honest – but it is without prosecution powers. That has to change. |
| Food processing employs more than 400,000 people and contributes £20bn to the economy. It is the UK’s biggest manufacturing business and also involves multiple players across Europe, driven by an acutely price-sensitive environment. There is both motive and opportunity for food crime which, according to the food science department at Queen’s University in Belfast, can range from adulteration and contamination to misrepresentation. Some are more serious than others: olives are presented as fresh when they were harvested a year earlier; dried herbs are padded out with other greenery. Others, like the horsemeat scandal, do not just mislead but offend against food cultures. And always, with food, a few can risk human health. | Food processing employs more than 400,000 people and contributes £20bn to the economy. It is the UK’s biggest manufacturing business and also involves multiple players across Europe, driven by an acutely price-sensitive environment. There is both motive and opportunity for food crime which, according to the food science department at Queen’s University in Belfast, can range from adulteration and contamination to misrepresentation. Some are more serious than others: olives are presented as fresh when they were harvested a year earlier; dried herbs are padded out with other greenery. Others, like the horsemeat scandal, do not just mislead but offend against food cultures. And always, with food, a few can risk human health. |
| A well-resourced police and inspection force ought to be the first line of defence against food crime. But local police forces are reluctant to add to their responsibilities. Cash-strapped local authorities have slashed services such as food safety inspectors. There are also questions about the value of inspections. The FSA, in its response to the Guardian investigation, confirmed the company’s claim that it had nine audits, five of them unannounced, in July and August and none of them found anything wrong. 2SFG, which processes 6 million chickens a week, insists that the hygiene and safety of its products are its priorities. | A well-resourced police and inspection force ought to be the first line of defence against food crime. But local police forces are reluctant to add to their responsibilities. Cash-strapped local authorities have slashed services such as food safety inspectors. There are also questions about the value of inspections. The FSA, in its response to the Guardian investigation, confirmed the company’s claim that it had nine audits, five of them unannounced, in July and August and none of them found anything wrong. 2SFG, which processes 6 million chickens a week, insists that the hygiene and safety of its products are its priorities. |
| Food processors operate in the harshest of environments. The British grocery business, dominated by half a dozen major names from Tesco to Waitrose, is locked in fierce competition in which quality and price are the two big variables. Producers’ margins are squeezed to the bone and their costs are constantly reviewed. Of course, any allegation of food crime hits turnover (and share price) hard: within hours of the publication of the Guardian/ITV reports on Thursday, it was reported that one of 2SFG’s smaller customers – a butchers’ chain – had lost 10% of its value. But price rises hit turnover too. Yet compromising on standards in the name of “value” is an unsustainable choice that consumers should not be asked to make – let alone have made for them. | Food processors operate in the harshest of environments. The British grocery business, dominated by half a dozen major names from Tesco to Waitrose, is locked in fierce competition in which quality and price are the two big variables. Producers’ margins are squeezed to the bone and their costs are constantly reviewed. Of course, any allegation of food crime hits turnover (and share price) hard: within hours of the publication of the Guardian/ITV reports on Thursday, it was reported that one of 2SFG’s smaller customers – a butchers’ chain – had lost 10% of its value. But price rises hit turnover too. Yet compromising on standards in the name of “value” is an unsustainable choice that consumers should not be asked to make – let alone have made for them. |
| This article was corrected on 9 October 2017. 2SFG processes 6 million chickens a week, not a year. | This article was corrected on 9 October 2017. 2SFG processes 6 million chickens a week, not a year. |
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