UK chicken supplier changing slaughter dates to extend the shelf life of meat

Guardian and ITV News via BBC News wrote:The Food Standards Agency is investigating after reports of safety breaches at a factory owned by one of the UK's largest chicken suppliers.

The Guardian and ITV News said workers at a 2 Sisters Food Group site in the West Midlands had changed slaughter dates to extend the shelf life of meat.

Marks & Spencer, Aldi, Lidl and The Co-op have stopped taking chickens from the site while investigations continue.

2 Sisters said it viewed the allegations "extremely seriously".

The FSA said its inspectors found "no evidence" of breaches at the West Bromwich factory on Thursday but they were continuing to review the evidence.

The company also supplies Tesco and Sainsbury's, which are investigating the allegations.

An undercover reporter claimed to have witnessed workers changing the "kill dates" on chickens and allegedly saw meat of different ages being mixed together and codes on crates of meat altered.

Repackaging claim

The Guardian and ITV News said in a statement that more than 20 workers had confirmed the unhygienic practices took place, while some said they would no longer eat chicken from supermarkets.

Some workers also claimed the chicken that supermarkets reject is sometimes repackaged at the factory and sent out again.

The FSA said it took any allegations of inaccurate labelling and breaches in hygiene regulations "very seriously".

It urged the Guardian and ITV News to share the full details with the FSA, such as the footage taken and witness interview transcripts, so that it could investigate thoroughly and promptly.

FSA chairman Heather Hancock said: "Should we find any evidence of any risk to public health, any products on the market which we believe to be a cause of concern will be urgently removed from sale."

Tesco said it carried out its own regular audits of all its suppliers, adding that it took the allegations "extremely seriously" and would be carrying out a "rigorous investigation".

Aldi, Lidl, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer all issued statements announcing the launch of independent investigations.

'No stone unturned'

The 2 Sisters company was founded in 1993 by Ranjit Singh Boparan and now employs 23,000 staff. Although it has diversified, the bulk of the group's income still comes from processing poultry.

The company said it had been made aware of the allegations on Thursday but had "not been given the time or the detailed evidence to conduct any thorough investigations to establish the facts, which makes a fulsome response very difficult".

It said hygiene and safety remained at the "core" of its business, which was subject to frequent unannounced audits from the FSA and Red Tractor - the food industry's assurance scheme - among others.

It said the West Midlands site in question had received nine audits - five unannounced - during July and August this year alone.

It added in a statement: "If, on presentation of further evidence, it comes to light any verifiable transgressions have been made at any of our sites, we will leave no stone unturned in investigating and remedying the situation immediately."

Who are 2 Sisters?

2 Sisters Food Group is the UK’s second largest food company by turnover and claims to process around 6 million chickens every week.

It is owned by Ranjit Singh Boparan and his wife, Baljinder Kaur Boparan, and the chicken operations – which include 12 sites in the UK – are part of a sprawling £3bn food empire that separately includes the turkey producer Bernard Matthews, the restaurant chains Harry Ramsden, FishWorks and Giraffe, plus food brands such as Fox’s Biscuits and Goodfella’s pizza.

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:I don't fully understand this, at the risk of sounding stupid how does changing the slaughter date increase the shelf life of chicken?

Lucien wrote:The title confused me there. Makes it sound like they kill chickens later than they should or something. I'd change it to something like... "Chicken suppliers sending unsafe/out-of-date meat to supermarkets".

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:

Lucien wrote:The title confused me there. Makes it sound like they kill chickens later than they should or something. I'd change it to something like... "Chicken suppliers sending unsafe/out-of-date meat to supermarkets".

Hang on I think I understand this now. They are slaughtering the chicken on say the 10th of the month put marking it as being slaughtered on the 15th, right?

Dual wrote:Don't buy meat from supermarket.

still wrote:

Dual wrote:Don't buy meat from supermarket.

Correct. Buy from a good farm shop. Ok, more expensive but quality and taste way higher. Do you remember what meat is supposed to taste like? Not if you buy from supermarkets.

Guardian wrote:Tesco has said it made a mistake when it described chicken sold under its Willow Farm brand as “reared exclusively” for the supermarket chain, after undercover footage of a processing plant showed packs of drumsticks returned by Lidl then being repackaged as Willow Farm products.

The UK’s biggest retailer has removed the claim that Willow Farm chicken is “reared exclusively for Tesco” from its website after film obtained as part of a Guardian and ITV News investigation into poultry giant 2 Sisters Food Group (2SFG) showed packs of Lidl drumsticks being opened and emptied back on to the production line. The drumsticks then re-emerged at the end of the line, repackaged with Willow Farm labels and destined for Tesco’s shelves.

Qikz wrote:

still wrote:

Dual wrote:Don't buy meat from supermarket.

Correct. Buy from a good farm shop. Ok, more expensive but quality and taste way higher. Do you remember what meat is supposed to taste like? Not if you buy from supermarkets.

What if I don't live within travel distance of a farm shop or butchers?