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The Poultry Keeper
The Independent Forum for Poultry Keepers
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stephen
Site Admin
Joined: 13 Apr 2005
Posts: 5085
Location: Billinge, Skåne, Sweden.
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 Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 10:04 am Post subject: Poultry from China sparks search for illegal meat |
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From The Guardian
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The Food Standards Agency is trying to trace hundreds of tonnes of poultry, beef and pork following the interception of an illegal consignment of chicken shipped from China.
The discovery of the chicken led to raids on a meat wholesaler where the authorities found evidence of other illegally relabelled meats. The FSA is now trying to trace meat supplied from the same premises to companies across the UK.
An alert has been issued to every local authority to check all meat originating from Eurofreeze (Ireland) Ltd and to impound it if they are suspicious about its labelling. Eurofreeze has had its licence to operate suspended.
Article continues
The FSA was alerted on November 9 by the Northern Ireland authorities that Eurofreeze was being investigated, following a tip-off about an illegal shipment of poultry from China to Belfast port in August.
The EU currently bans the import of live birds and poultry meat from China as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of bird flu and because residues of illegal antibiotics have been found in the past. The authorities in Northern Ireland seized and destroyed the consignment, having established from shipping documents that it was destined for Eurofreeze, an FSA spokesman said.
When enforcement officers then raided Eurofreeze's premises near Enniskillen, they found evidence that a number of fraudulent health marks had been used there. Health marks are the official stamps used by licensed meat factories to show the origin of meat and to prove that it has passed health and safety inspections. They are easy to fake and in this case, the FSA says that fake copies of health marks owned by large, reputable companies in Ireland, Holland, Spain and Germany were discovered.
The FSA said it did not yet know whether Eurofreeze had received previous consignments from China.
"We can't rule it out but we don't know of any other shipments from China. We do know that Eurofreeze sent out a huge amount of chicken. Officers have looked at recent documentation - tracing the most recent stuff is the key because we may still be able to retrieve it," the FSA spokesman said.
Eurofreeze declined to comment yesterday and would not accept any calls. The company's pet food operation on the same site has also had its licence suspended, according to the FSA. The UK enforcement authorities were asked on November 18 to start trying to trace tonnes of meat that was sold on from Eurofreeze to other companies around the UK.
[continues on the link above]
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susyrosyworzy
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 46
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| Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 12:30 pm Post subject: local produce |
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| Doesnt this make you want to use only local stuff! Easier said than done, I know - I shop at Tesco, not my local butcher, who often grows his own. |
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poultry poofs
Joined: 13 Apr 2005
Posts: 1807
Location: Wensleydale,North Yorkshire.
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| Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 10:42 pm Post subject: |
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When they had a similar issue last year with rotten chicken going into the food chain it affected products sold by all the major supermarkets and fast food outlets and food manufacturers. I dont trust any of them.
You can always find other local food producers on www.bigbarn.co.uk by using the postcode search facility.
rich |
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