Update on incident involving a meat coldstore in Northern Ireland (Update 5)
Wednesday 14 December 2005
Food Alert: for Action
Ref: 68 /2005 (Update 5) (67/2005 Scotland - For Info)
Heads of Environmental Health and Directors of Trading Standards will be aware of the Food Alert for Action 68/2005, issued on 18 November 2005, and the four subsequent updates outlining preliminary action required to be taken in relation to the above incident.
Further to the information provided in update 4, the Agency is now able to supply details of the genuine product description labels for chicken thighs and chicken skin applied at the manufacturing premises.
In addition there are examples of genuine product description labels for chicken drumsticks and chicken fillets.
To date there has been no indication that these two labels may have been illicitly reproduced. It should be noted that the Health Mark applied to these products may be genuine but as the description labels are suspected to be illicit the provenance of the product cannot be guaranteed and as such would not comply with food safety requirements.
Actions to be taken by local authorities
If local authorities become aware of chicken thighs or chicken skin products that have been supplied by Euro Freeze (Ireland) Ltd they should detain them for the purpose of checking authenticity of the suspected illicit product description labels.
If the authorised officer is not satisfied that these labels are authentic, the products should be seized for destruction under section 9 of the Food Safety Act 1990 on the basis that they do not comply with food safety requirements.
While carrying out the inspection, if officers become aware of chicken drumsticks or chicken fillets that have been supplied by Euro Freeze (Ireland) Ltd, it may be prudent to check the product description label against the genuine copy and if the authorised officer is not satisfied that these labels are authentic they should carry out the actions described above.
Please obtain full written descriptions of the product/s, photographs and any distribution details. In addition the Food Standards Agency should be notified immediately, as this information is needed as part of the ongoing investigation.
If, as part of this investigation, further suspect illicit labels or further distribution details are discovered, these will be forwarded on to local authorities as soon as possible to assist them in their investigations.
It is essential that all non-unitary authorities liaise at county level to ensure that they take necessary action.