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| Back to the future: how company takes beef from farmer to burger | Back to the future: how company takes beef from farmer to burger |
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| The many unanswered questions around the horsemeat scandal have never really included one about motive. | The many unanswered questions around the horsemeat scandal have never really included one about motive. |
| As soon as the Food Safety Authority of Ireland made its announcement on 14 January that it had found horse DNA in several supermarket frozen burgers, it was very clear why someone might want to substitute cheaper ingredients somewhere into a supply chain. | As soon as the Food Safety Authority of Ireland made its announcement on 14 January that it had found horse DNA in several supermarket frozen burgers, it was very clear why someone might want to substitute cheaper ingredients somewhere into a supply chain. |
| For instance, the raw material for a good beefburger, made of 85%-90% lean beef, is £3.80 a kilo (£1.73 per pound). This means the price of decent mince in a quarter pounder is about 43p, before you add the manufacturer's and retailer's labour and energy costs or profit. | For instance, the raw material for a good beefburger, made of 85%-90% lean beef, is £3.80 a kilo (£1.73 per pound). This means the price of decent mince in a quarter pounder is about 43p, before you add the manufacturer's and retailer's labour and energy costs or profit. |
| In contrast, frozen economy burgers of the sort that turned out to contain a surprise ingredient – horse – were selling at £1 for a pack of eight, the equivalent of about 25p per quarter pound. | In contrast, frozen economy burgers of the sort that turned out to contain a surprise ingredient – horse – were selling at £1 for a pack of eight, the equivalent of about 25p per quarter pound. |
| The opportunities for fraud in a cheap frozen burger also turned out to be glaringly obvious once the scandal had shone a harsh light on the process involved in its manufacture, though they were more numerous than even experts had previously imagined. | The opportunities for fraud in a cheap frozen burger also turned out to be glaringly obvious once the scandal had shone a harsh light on the process involved in its manufacture, though they were more numerous than even experts had previously imagined. |
| The ABP Silvercrest factory that supplied Tesco with its 29% horse beef burgers was using "multiple ingredients from some 40 suppliers … in production batches … and the mixture of ingredients could vary in every half-hour production batch". To test what was being used involved drilling down into the core of large frozen blocks of meat. ABP has said it never knowingly traded in horsemeat and has blamed rogue managers at Silvercrest, its subsidiary, for failing to honour supermarket customers' specifications. Where exactly the fraud of passing horse off as beef in the ABP supply chain was committed remains unclear. | The ABP Silvercrest factory that supplied Tesco with its 29% horse beef burgers was using "multiple ingredients from some 40 suppliers … in production batches … and the mixture of ingredients could vary in every half-hour production batch". To test what was being used involved drilling down into the core of large frozen blocks of meat. ABP has said it never knowingly traded in horsemeat and has blamed rogue managers at Silvercrest, its subsidiary, for failing to honour supermarket customers' specifications. Where exactly the fraud of passing horse off as beef in the ABP supply chain was committed remains unclear. |
| But what is clear is that supermarket burger production will never be the same again. The high street names are working frantically to move away from the opaque and elaborate networks of trading companies through which frozen blocks of meat or "raw material" for burgers at the bottom end of the range have until now passed. This is a world in which the paper trail of ownership did not necessarily bear much relationship to the physical movement of goods, and in which traceability had broken down. | But what is clear is that supermarket burger production will never be the same again. The high street names are working frantically to move away from the opaque and elaborate networks of trading companies through which frozen blocks of meat or "raw material" for burgers at the bottom end of the range have until now passed. This is a world in which the paper trail of ownership did not necessarily bear much relationship to the physical movement of goods, and in which traceability had broken down. |
| Supermarkets are now looking at the short, local supply chains for beef of the sort developed over many years by a few companies that managed to escape the scandal. The shift is not one they can make quickly – it takes two-and-a-half years to produce a finished beef animal, and the UK herd has been declining inexorably as farmers' costs have outstripped what retail buyers are prepared to pay. But a couple of years down the line the way meat on the high street will be sourced is likely to be very different. It will be a case of back to the future. | Supermarkets are now looking at the short, local supply chains for beef of the sort developed over many years by a few companies that managed to escape the scandal. The shift is not one they can make quickly – it takes two-and-a-half years to produce a finished beef animal, and the UK herd has been declining inexorably as farmers' costs have outstripped what retail buyers are prepared to pay. But a couple of years down the line the way meat on the high street will be sourced is likely to be very different. It will be a case of back to the future. |
| Scotbeef, one of Scotland's largest red meat manufacturers, is a fourth-generation, family-owned company that processes more than 100,000 cattle a year. It has just the sort of short chain others now want to copy. It buys live animals directly from approved farmers, slaughters them and takes them from kill to chill in 45 minutes. It makes burgers only from meat from its own abattoir. "We don't trade at all. If we need more meat, we kill more animals," its managing director, Robbie Galloway, explained. | Scotbeef, one of Scotland's largest red meat manufacturers, is a fourth-generation, family-owned company that processes more than 100,000 cattle a year. It has just the sort of short chain others now want to copy. It buys live animals directly from approved farmers, slaughters them and takes them from kill to chill in 45 minutes. It makes burgers only from meat from its own abattoir. "We don't trade at all. If we need more meat, we kill more animals," its managing director, Robbie Galloway, explained. |
| Its burgers are made with forequarter meat and meat trim once the highest-value prime cuts, such as fillet and rump, have been cut off the carcasses. The family tried to set up a frozen burger line a decade ago to take advantage of a booming market but could never put in a price low enough using its own meat to win a big tender, according to Galloway. | Its burgers are made with forequarter meat and meat trim once the highest-value prime cuts, such as fillet and rump, have been cut off the carcasses. The family tried to set up a frozen burger line a decade ago to take advantage of a booming market but could never put in a price low enough using its own meat to win a big tender, according to Galloway. |
| The company has been supplying Marks & Spencer for more than 50 years and also has McDonald's as a customer. "It's like a marriage, both parties have to work hard at it, and there may be times when no one is speaking to each other, but it's a question of trust." | The company has been supplying Marks & Spencer for more than 50 years and also has McDonald's as a customer. "It's like a marriage, both parties have to work hard at it, and there may be times when no one is speaking to each other, but it's a question of trust." |
| The Guardian visited the Bridge of Allan abattoir and packing factory, which is a state-of-the art production line that takes animals on a continuous moving belt from stunning and slaughter through evisceration, past government inspectors and on for cutting, then into giant chill rooms for maturing. A few days later the carcasses shunt on again into the bright white boning hall where 65 specialist butchers in chainmail protective clothing and gauntlets, sheaths of knives and steels hanging from their waist, remove the main cuts and the trim from the quarters. The prime cuts go for further maturing. Other than the brutal reality of the moment of bloodletting after stunning, it is extraordinarily sanitised and clean. | The Guardian visited the Bridge of Allan abattoir and packing factory, which is a state-of-the art production line that takes animals on a continuous moving belt from stunning and slaughter through evisceration, past government inspectors and on for cutting, then into giant chill rooms for maturing. A few days later the carcasses shunt on again into the bright white boning hall where 65 specialist butchers in chainmail protective clothing and gauntlets, sheaths of knives and steels hanging from their waist, remove the main cuts and the trim from the quarters. The prime cuts go for further maturing. Other than the brutal reality of the moment of bloodletting after stunning, it is extraordinarily sanitised and clean. |
| About 60 cattle an hour – more than 2,000 a week – pass through the industrial shed that is as scrubbed as an operating theatre. About 200 employees in their whites, 70% local, and about 30% eastern European, work a double shift. | About 60 cattle an hour – more than 2,000 a week – pass through the industrial shed that is as scrubbed as an operating theatre. About 200 employees in their whites, 70% local, and about 30% eastern European, work a double shift. |
| Stainless steel work platforms on hydraulic lifts, high-pressure water hoses and vacuums, and power-cutting tools have taken most of the gore and much of the heavy labour out of what used to be notoriously dirty, dangerous work. There is almost no smell, only the loud hum of chilling machinery, punctuated by a regular klaxon warning that a carcass is on the move and about to come round the corner at you. | Stainless steel work platforms on hydraulic lifts, high-pressure water hoses and vacuums, and power-cutting tools have taken most of the gore and much of the heavy labour out of what used to be notoriously dirty, dangerous work. There is almost no smell, only the loud hum of chilling machinery, punctuated by a regular klaxon warning that a carcass is on the move and about to come round the corner at you. |
| M&S and McDonald's have specifications for different parts of the animal, making sure demand is in balance. A short, tightly controlled supply chain costs more, but M&S trades on quality in food rather than matching the prices of discount and cheaper supermarkets; McDonald's, having suffered immense reputational damage over its sourcing of cattle in the McLibel trial, puts a high premium on knowing exactly where and how its beef burgers are made. | M&S and McDonald's have specifications for different parts of the animal, making sure demand is in balance. A short, tightly controlled supply chain costs more, but M&S trades on quality in food rather than matching the prices of discount and cheaper supermarkets; McDonald's, having suffered immense reputational damage over its sourcing of cattle in the McLibel trial, puts a high premium on knowing exactly where and how its beef burgers are made. |
| The difference in quality is down to which breeds and cuts are used, how the carcass is hung and how long the meat is aged at different points to tenderise it after the initial zap of electricity that begins the process of maturing muscles after slaughter. | The difference in quality is down to which breeds and cuts are used, how the carcass is hung and how long the meat is aged at different points to tenderise it after the initial zap of electricity that begins the process of maturing muscles after slaughter. |
| The system that has taken years to refine is now attracting attention from rivals. Tesco has a war chest of £25m a year to clean up its red meat supply, and has been offering extra premiums to farmers who have supplied Scotbeef for years. | The system that has taken years to refine is now attracting attention from rivals. Tesco has a war chest of £25m a year to clean up its red meat supply, and has been offering extra premiums to farmers who have supplied Scotbeef for years. |
| The main protection against fraud comes from a sophisticated computer system of tagging and barcoding everything from beginning to end. Since the BSE crisis, all cattle have to have passports recording their movements. The passport is scanned when the farmer books a steer for slaughter and is then cross-checked when the animal arrives in the lairage. A series of barcoded labels identifying the animal are attached and repeatedly cross-checked as the carcass moves through the factory so that each cut can be traced back to a particular animal and the time it is killed. | The main protection against fraud comes from a sophisticated computer system of tagging and barcoding everything from beginning to end. Since the BSE crisis, all cattle have to have passports recording their movements. The passport is scanned when the farmer books a steer for slaughter and is then cross-checked when the animal arrives in the lairage. A series of barcoded labels identifying the animal are attached and repeatedly cross-checked as the carcass moves through the factory so that each cut can be traced back to a particular animal and the time it is killed. |
| A further process of weighing everything in and out gives a "mass volume balance" figure to ensure nothing extraneous has been introduced. | A further process of weighing everything in and out gives a "mass volume balance" figure to ensure nothing extraneous has been introduced. |
| M&S was already doing DNA testing before the horsemeat scandal to check that the cattle are the Aberdeen Angus breed it specifies for some products. There is a £100-a-head differential between an Aberdeen Angus steer and other breeds. "It's a question of being vigilant about where the incentives for fraud might be," its technical director, Paul Willgoss, explained. | M&S was already doing DNA testing before the horsemeat scandal to check that the cattle are the Aberdeen Angus breed it specifies for some products. There is a £100-a-head differential between an Aberdeen Angus steer and other breeds. "It's a question of being vigilant about where the incentives for fraud might be," its technical director, Paul Willgoss, explained. |
| Scanning the barcodes eliminates the possibility of typing a wrong number by mistake or anyone hiding anything. It is not impossible to cheat but it would take a very determined effort and sophisticated double book-keeping computer software. Privately, several in the industry suspect that at least some of the horse fraud must have involved double book-keeping at some points in the chain. They have come across it in chains in developing countries where suppliers have been caught with one set of records for the auditors and another to reflect reality, but not on turf so close to home. | Scanning the barcodes eliminates the possibility of typing a wrong number by mistake or anyone hiding anything. It is not impossible to cheat but it would take a very determined effort and sophisticated double book-keeping computer software. Privately, several in the industry suspect that at least some of the horse fraud must have involved double book-keeping at some points in the chain. They have come across it in chains in developing countries where suppliers have been caught with one set of records for the auditors and another to reflect reality, but not on turf so close to home. |
| Scotbeef's burger operation is located on the outskirts of Glasgow. The sealed, tagged and barcoded meat is taken from its slaughterhouse to the Queenslie site for further processing. The secret of a top-of-the-range burger is to handle the meat as little as possible, leaving it with the open texture achieved in a domestic kitchen rather than the heavily emulsified, toothpaste-tube texture of bargain frozen versions with their added fat. The more you mince and bind the meat and fat, the more rubbery the final product. | Scotbeef's burger operation is located on the outskirts of Glasgow. The sealed, tagged and barcoded meat is taken from its slaughterhouse to the Queenslie site for further processing. The secret of a top-of-the-range burger is to handle the meat as little as possible, leaving it with the open texture achieved in a domestic kitchen rather than the heavily emulsified, toothpaste-tube texture of bargain frozen versions with their added fat. The more you mince and bind the meat and fat, the more rubbery the final product. |
| At Scotbeef a giant mincing machine turns the M&S mix of forequarter cuts, brisket, short rib and trim into mince, lightly seasoned with a little salt and a small amount of crumb as binding, and that's it. Then the mince passes through an extruder and cutting line to be turned out on to a conveyor belt as its Ultimate Aberdeen Angus burgers for packing. | At Scotbeef a giant mincing machine turns the M&S mix of forequarter cuts, brisket, short rib and trim into mince, lightly seasoned with a little salt and a small amount of crumb as binding, and that's it. Then the mince passes through an extruder and cutting line to be turned out on to a conveyor belt as its Ultimate Aberdeen Angus burgers for packing. |
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