Meals withdrawn after horsemeat test

 

Welsh Bros said a sample had ‘potentially’ tested positive

Cardiff council has followed Pembrokeshire in withdrawing some meat products from schools and care homes amid fears of horsemeat contamination.

Meat supplied by Welsh Bros Ltd to a consortium of 16 authorities including the two councils is suspected to have horsemeat present after tests.
Welsh Bros said it was shocked but believed it was an isolated incident.
Pembrokeshire council said it had received assurances from its other suppliers that meats were traceable.
Pembrokeshire withdrew all mince products from schools, care homes and day centres.
Cardiff council said it had decided to withdraw all beef food products sourced from Welsh Bros from all its schools, leisure centres, care homes and other council catering outlets.
Alan Heycock, managing director of the company based in Newport, south Wales, said: “We do our best to promote quality British products”.
He said they had been let down by a non-Welsh company, adding: “We received an e-mail about this last night. A test came back positive. We haven’t seen the certificate yet.
“This is all under investigation with trading standards now and we are waiting for further information”.
The meat involved was distributed in December 2012.
“We’re very busy contacting our customers now and letting them know,” added Mr Heycock.

Jordan Davies reports on the latest developments

The company later issued a formal statement saying a sample of meat had “potentially” tested positive for horsemeat but the company had taken the decision to inform customers and withdraw the product immediately.
The statement said: “The batch affected was produced nearly three months ago. Welsh Bros Foods did have a clear test result for frozen free flow minced beef on 17.01.13. We submitted these samples when the horse meat scandal first broke in January.
“We have since submitted further samples which we are still awaiting test results for.
“Welsh Bros has been provided with test results from other authorities who have tested more recent batches of our free flow minced beef and these have been reported as being clear.
“We therefore believe at this stage that this is an isolated incident.
“We have today issued a withdraw notice with the Food Standards Agency for frozen free flow minced beef produced between 13.12.12 which was the pack date of the suspect test and 17.01.13 which is the date we achieved our clear test result.”
Food safety visits
Pembrokeshire council said the mince in question may have been supplied to schools and council-run residential homes and day centres within the county.
In a separate development, the council said it had also been made aware that frozen beef products supplied to Sodexho, which provides catering services to a private finance initiative school in Pembroke Dock, had also tested positive for horsemeat.
Sodexho has had a private catering contract with the school since it opened. Its meat was not bought through the Welsh Purchasing Consortium (WPC) which comprises the 16 local authorities in south, mid and west Wales, including Pembrokeshire.

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It is absolutely vital that the government responds to this swiftly and works closely with council officials and the FSA”

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Antoinette Sandbach AM
Conservative rural affairs spokeswoman
Sodexho has withdrawn all frozen beef products from its UK catering operations.
Meanwhile the council said officers from Pembrokeshire’s food safety and standards team were prioritising visits to all cold stores, approved meat products and meat processing premises which had not been inspected in the last 12 months to check relevant documentation, labelling and traceability in line with Food Standards Agency (FSA) advice.
Caerphilly council, which manages purchasing for the WPC, said it was contacting the other councils to see if they were affected by the horsemeat discovery.
Ceredigion council, although a member of the consortium, said it had never purchased any meat products from Welsh Bros of Newport. The authority said Castell Howell Ltd supplied all council establishments with fresh meat.
Conservative rural affairs spokeswoman Antoinette Sandbach AM called for quicker action by ministers to reassure the public.
“It is absolutely vital that the government responds to this swiftly and works closely with council officials and the FSA,” she said.
“Labour’s minister for food has been slow to react to the horsemeat scandal and now is the time to put that right.
“With consumer confidence taking another knock, it is more important than ever for the government to ensure promotion of the local supply chain and local butchers.”

TN coconut oil under lens in Kerala over adulteration charges

Kochi, Feb 26:  

Kerala Food Safety authorities have commenced inspection of coconut oil arriving from Tamil Nadu following the reports of adulteration with palm kernel oil.

Thalath Mahamood, former President, Cochin Oil Merchants Association (COMA), told Business Line that the officials had started collecting coconut oil samples for a random inspection from traders in Ernakulam on Tuesday in the backdrop of complaints that spurious coconut oil mixed with palm kernel are landing in various parts of the State.

However, he said that this is happening notwithstanding the fact that Kerala was also receiving good quality oil from Tamil Nadu and only a few players were involved in the adulteration.

He said that around 30-40 tankers each are coming to the State from Tamil Nadu every day and traders are complaining on the inferior quality of oil.When contacted, a senior official in the Food Safety Authority said that they have set up separate teams in Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram based on a complaints from Kerafed on coconut oil adulteration.

The team, he said, has collected samples from traders and they will be sent for further inspection. Since the labs in Kerala are not equipped to test the level of adulteration, the samples will be sent to labs accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories.

Meanwhile, the coconut oil market in Kerala and Tamil Nadu is witnessing a weak trend with the commencement of copra season. Prices in Kerala declined to Rs 63 a kg (Rs 65), while rates quoted in Tamil Nadu were Rs 60 against last week’s Rs 63.

Simultaneously, copra prices dropped to Rs 4,500 a quintal in Kerala (Rs 4,700) and Rs 4,350 in Tamil Nadu (Rs 4,600).

Prakash B.Rao, Vice-President, COMA, said that the market is witnessing a selling trend and this coupled with lack of industrial demand is affecting the market badly.

Prices are expected to drop in the coming weeks due to heavy arrivals of copra, especially from Kannur, Kasargod and Malappuram districts.

Other edible oils such as palm oil and palm kernel oil remained at the same level quoted last week at Rs 52 and Rs 53 a kg respectively, he added.

Meat and poultry sectors urged to adopt SOP for hygiene and sanitation

The meat and poultry industry has been urged to adopt standard operating procedures (SOP) regarding hygiene, sanitation, slaughtering and processing of meat and poultry products. It was suggested that the SOPs would help the industry in terms of quality, health and value addition for both domestic and overseas markets. The meat and poultry sector lacks standard procedures across the country and is largely an unorganised sector.

The department is also coming up with a production manual for goat meat. Sanjay Bhoosreddy, joint secretary, department of animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries, ministry of agriculture, said it would soon be released for the industry to follow, adding that goat meat production in India has gone up 800 times. He also stated that several organisations are currently working in isolation and they need to come together to help the sector grow.

“The industry approaches me with individual cases with mere suggestions. There should be more involvement in terms of analysis, details in proposals and clarity, so that I can discuss them with other decision-making bodies,” Bhoosreddy said. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) – which organised the recently-concluded meat and poultry summit – stated that it would form an expert group to facilitate the sector.

At the concluding session of the meet, Ravi Mathur, chairperson, CII Expert Group on Food Safety, said the group would provide a platform for the industry to deliberate on such issues as food safety, animal health, feed and fodder availability, lack of skills, research, technology transfer and export opportunities, and suggest recommendations, which would be sent to the concerned ministry.

Trader fined for selling misbranded salt

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Kishtwar Feb 26: Tightening its noose against the adulterators in Kishtwar, the food safety officers have lifted another sample of “Sugar Gold premium iodized salt” which has been declared misbranded by the food analyst laboratory Jammu.
The sample was lifted from the shop of Ajaiz Hussain son of Atta Mohammad resident of Piyakal Saroor and accordingly sent for testing at NABL accredited laboratory Jammu.
The food analysts found it misbranded and accordingly the challan was produce before the court of Additional District Magistrate Kishtwar (Adjudicating Officer)  under Food Safety and Standard Act 2006, an official spokesman said.
He added that the adjudicating officer Rajesh Kumar Shavan after hearing both the parties found the seller guilty and imposed a fine of Rs 2100 which was deposited by the offender on the spot Adjudicating Officer also directed that the seller will return whole lot of the salt to the distributor.

Sweet shops fined under Food Safety Regulations

Kud (Udhampur), Feb 26: The Designated Officer District Udhampur, Khaminder Choudhary along with Food Safety Officers conducted inspections of Food Business Operator especially dealing with sweets at Kud.
During the drive 15 establishments were checked and sweets worth Rs 7500 were destroyed on spot.
Two statutory samples of Khoya and Gajrella were lifted under the provisions of Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006 and Rules and Regulations, 2011. The samples have been sent to the Food Analyst, Food Testing Laboratory, Jammu for analysis.
The team also sensitized the food vendors regarding the provisions of enhanced penalties and imprisonment under the new food law and impressed upon them to carry out