MPs have called on the Food Standards Agency to investigate the quality of the risk management assessment at the 2 Sisters Good Group, following a parliamentary report on the firm’s food safety and hygiene practices.
The report from the Environment, Foods and Rural Affairs committee of MPs, followed the undercover footage by The Guardian and ITN at the firm’s West Bromwich facility, earlier this year. The footage revealed numerous health and standards violations and led to the inquiry into the firm, which supplies the majority of the country’s poultry products.
The damning inquiry said the issues at the plant were ‘not a one-off’ and the record of the 2 Sisters Food Group was ‘far from pristine’.
Valid questions
It said: “There are valid questions to be asked of its corporate governance structure. That being the case, we are concerned at the apparent laxity of the oversight of the Site D facility, an incredibly important part of the poultry food chain.
“Any risk management assessment which did not give this plant the highest priority and the most stringent levels of scrutiny is flawed. The Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) investigation into the case must examine the quality of its risk assessment to take better account both of its management’s history and the facility’s role in the food chain and the number of farmers and suppliers who rely on it.”
The report also said that ‘concrete suggestions’ for reform of the sector were necessary to ‘re-establish consumer confidence in the food chain.’
On such method to improve this was using CCTV in cutting plants to act as a permanent inspector of practices was repeatedly mentioned.
The MPs said: “We are aware that CCTV is planned to be made compulsory in slaughterhouses. We recommend that Defra both launch a consultation on extending these measures to cutting plants and produce an impact assessment of the likely costs and benefits to the industry of introducing such measures.”
Food crime unit
MPs also said the FSA’s food crime unit needed to be upgraded from an intelligence-gathering unit to one with real teeth as as investigatory body.
They said: “We are concerned at the suggestion from the FSA that the funding necessary to complete this upgrade has not been immediately forthcoming from the Treasury and is instead seemingly stuck in limbo.
“We would like to assume that this recent incident, and our subsequent inquiry, has provided the impetus for the necessary funding to be made available. We recommend that Defra and the Food Standards Agency confirm to us in response to this report that this is the case and the required funds have been released.”
Evidence sessions
The evidence sessions for the committee following the allegations at the 2 Sisters plant and the role and performance of the FSA, Sandwell Metropolitan Council and accreditation bodies.
It explored the potential ramifications of the allegations made against 2 Sisters for the poultry sector and the wider food chain, including whether there was “no systematic process for bringing together the various audits and assessments conducted by different accreditation and regulatory bodies; as such there is no single overarching view about standards in a particular plant or facility.”
It also said that “unannounced visits are not completely a surprise; even an unannounced visit gives processors a period of around 30 minutes’ grace before the inspection begins and as a result “people will tend to be on their best behaviour.”
Wakeup call for all accreditation firms
Neil Parish MP and chair of the committee said: “Our inquiry should serve as a wakeup call for all accreditation firms and cause them to improve their processes and remove any loopholes that may exist, not just those discovered through our inquiry
“Food supply chains are sensitive and easy to disrupt when retailers and consumers lose confidence in food quality or safety. Large producers and retailers have a responsibility to protect, rather than undermine, the UK’s food producers.”
Letter from co-founder
Ranjit Singh Boparan, founder of 2 Sisters, wrote to the Committee last week (10 November) confirming in writing the commitments he made to the Environment, Foods and Rural Affairs Committee during his hearing.
These were:
- Placing a full time FSA inspector in West Bromwich poultry plant (now in situ) as well all other poultry plants (w/c 13th November).
- Sharing the forensic report analysing the Guardian/ITN footage with the committee.
- Inviting the Committee to visit a 2 Sisters Food Group plant, announced or unannounced.
- Installing CCTV with complete coverage in all poultry plants (within 120 days), and establishing a CCTV committee.
- Implanting mystery workers into all poultry factories by the end of January 2018.
- Sharing progress on the above with the Committee.
Parish said: “We are pleased that Mr Boparan has written to the Committee and restated his commitment to improving standards at Two Sisters’ production facilities. The commitments are on the public record and we will be closely monitoring their implementation with a view to investigating further if required.
“It is important that consumers in both the UK and in our vital export markets feel confident in the quality of our food standards. We have made it quite clear that we take his assurances very seriously. We will be closely monitoring their implementation.”
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