Meat plant fined for hygiene failings
Asia Halal Meat Suppliers Ltd, based in Birmingham has been fined a total of £240,000 with costs of £12,824.05 and a surcharge of £170, after pleading guilty to food hygiene offences.
Dr Colin Sullivan, chief operating officer of the FSA.
The red meat cutting plant based in Birmingham pleaded guilty to food hygiene offences at Birmingham Magistrates Court last week.
A breach of regulations was identified by a Food Standards Agency (FSA) auditor in January last year, when an employee with ‘facial hair’ was seen cutting and packing meat without protective clothing in the processing area.
Asia Poultry and Meat Ltd had been due to stand trial for breaching a detention notice which prohibited access to food chillers without the FSA present before they plead guilty.
The incident took place after the FSA found evidence of rodent activity during an unannounced inspection in October 2017.
Inspectors took immediate action to stop the site operations and temporarily detained unwrapped products to assess if they were suitable for human consumption.
When the FSA inspectors returned the next day, they found evidence that the seals used to detain the product had been tampered with and that items had been moved or were missing.
Asia Poultry and Meat Ltd were warned about the consequences of breaching the detention notice before FSA staff returned to find more meat had been moved following the first breach.
Dr Colin Sullivan, Chief Operating Officer at the FSA said: “The food business ignored a formal detention notice put in place to protect consumers.
“Because of its reckless actions, which could have put consumers at risk, they have now been brought to justice.
“We will continue to investigate and prosecute any food business who fails to uphold acceptable food hygiene standards on behalf of the consumer.”
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