Tighter controls on meat testing are needed in light of the horsemeat scandal, a supermarket boss has said.
Waitrose's Mark Price said as a result of recent events, the John Lewis-owned firm was setting up its own freezing plant to prevent cross contamination.
Mr Price called on everybody in the food industry to apply "renewed rigour" to their testing regimes.
Meanwhile, a former Food Standards Agency manager says he told ministers about horsemeat adulteration in 2011.
John Young told the Sunday Times he alerted the government to the potential scandal of horsemeat getting into the food chain.
Mr Young, who until 2008 worked at the Meat Hygiene Service - then an executive agency of the FSA - says he alerted ministers to the potential scandal of illicit horsemeat with drug residues getting into human food, but was ignored.
'Current scandal'
No Waitrose products have been implicated in the horsemeat scandal however it has withdrawn batches of its beef meatballs after tests revealed they contained traces of pork.
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Price, Waitrose managing director, said: "If something good comes of the current scandal, I hope it is the opening up of a debate around the true economics of food.
"The simple fact is that food cannot be seen as a cheap commodity when so many factors are working against that premise, including population growth."
Mr Price said the risk of horsemeat getting into food emerges if supermarket beef is sent to a third party to freeze as this increases the risk of cross contamination.
"Our response to make sure we remove that risk is to now set up our own freezing plant at our beef abattoir," he said.
Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke has emailed customers assuring them a "new benchmark" will be set for the testing of its products.
Legal action
He said his team was working on a plan to build a "world class traceability and DNA testing system" for its products along with a new website enabling customers to see the progress being made with its testing programme.
The FSA said it has submitted a "full file" on its horsemeat investigation to Europol - the EU's law enforcement agency - and the information is being analysed in 35 countries, in Europe and elsewhere.
On Friday, FSA chief executive Catherine Brown said the agency had not brought any of its own prosecutions so far, but she did not rule out future legal action.
Three men, from Dyfed and West Yorkshire, have been arrested and bailed as part of the horsemeat probe.
Separately, FSA officers and police took computers, documents and meat samples from two premises in north London and one in Hull on Friday.
CLICKABLE
French food producer makes order
Comigel HQ in Metz, north-east France, asks its subsidiary, Tavola in Luxembourg, to make food products - including beef lasagne for Findus.
Factory orders meat
The Tavola factory orders the meat from Spanghero in the south of France.
Subcontractor used
Spanghero contacts a subcontractor in Cyprus to source the meat.
Subcontractor enlists trader
The Cypriot subcontractor in turn contacts a trader in the Netherlands.
Trader orders from Romania
The trader in the Netherlands places an order for meat with abattoirs in Romania.
Abattoirs send meat to France
The meat from the abattoirs travels to Spanghero in France. However, Romania rejects claims that it was responsible for wrongly describing the horsemeat from its abattoirs as beef. Horsemeat is always labelled as such, they say. The Romanian authorities claim records show orders had been for horse carcass - easily distinguishable from beef.
Meat used to make products
Spanghero sends the meat to the Comigel subsidiary's factory in Luxembourg before the finished products are supplied to Findus and retailers across Europe, including the UK. The president of Comigel says the company was unaware the meat was coming from abroad.
Horsemeat found in Ireland and UK
Tests by Irish authorities have found equine DNA in beefburgers made by firms in the Irish Republic and the UK. Traces of horsemeat have also been found in stored meat at another plant in Ireland and one in Northern Ireland. In mainland Britain, police and officials probing alleged horsemeat mislabelling have carried out raids at a slaughterhouse in West Yorkshire and a meat firm near Aberystwyth. Three men were later arrested on suspicion of offences under the Fraud Act..
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Calls for tougher meat testing rules
Dengan url
http://gayabugarsehat.blogspot.com/2013/02/calls-for-tougher-meat-testing-rules.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Calls for tougher meat testing rules
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Calls for tougher meat testing rules
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar