After shocking headlines this week over leading supermarkets and other retailers discovering some of their British and Irish burgers were contaminated with horse meat; tests being carried out by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) analysing a range of beef products found traces of both horse and pig DNA in many of the 'beef' products. Tesco's group technical director Tim Smith has been in the news apologising for the distress and pledging to discover how the contamination could have taken place and to prevent it from happening in the future.
Response to the horse meat scare has resulted in comments that there are only two possible reasons for this contamination, from illegality or from gross negligence, neither comforting for the consumer or the retailers. The most shocking factor in this case is the scale and commodity of the items. Consumers put their faith in larger retailers expecting that they will have specialists who source the products as well as procedures in place to ensure product validity. With the outbreak of the scandal, it would appear this trust was misplaced and distrust of packaging and labelling has also naturally ensued.
Although one would hope it does not have to be said, food business owners should be reminded that knowing their supply food chain within their own business is of paramount importance. Products such as minced beef for example, can end up in a range of meals and indeed as burgers. Failing to check suppliers can results in a potential contamination which can occur right across a food establishment's menu.
Current trends are all on the 'keep it local' and 'buy British' and many regional producers do supply locally direct to restaurants and food outlets. On a small scale when buying direct from local producers, it is easier to keep tabs on your food supply chain. The problems arise when food manufactures expand to supply a larger demand or when retailer prices force changes in methods or standards of production. In these circumstances, problems in product quality control are much more likely to occur because food manufactures need to reduce their costs or source a greater supply. They therefore are restricted to choosing a supplier who can accommodate their budget or needs. In this instance, for many, the supplier that could cater to their situation was one of the suppliers importing meat, which was later discovered to come from horses.
Above all, the scandal has demonstrated that the public expect to know where their food is coming from and it is likely to be some time before UK consumers are reassured that a situation such as the current one, will not occur again. In the meantime, food manufacturers are going to have to make the effort to ensure that their suppliers are reliable and consistently deliver excellent product quality. A concerted effort to ensure quality control is undoubtedly the least expected by consumers.
Whatever the scale a food business runs on, it is essential that suppliers are checked and ideally business owners should contract or meet their producers to prove their products.
Paul Grantham is employed by Safer Food Handler, which has produced a basic UK food hygiene course. Safer Food Handler offers the UK's cheapest Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate that fully meets the UK legal requirements. For food handling businesses with 5+
employees needing training, there are bulk food hygiene course discounts.
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