Food chain sets contingency plans to cope with swine flu

Food industry swine flu contingency plans can withstand any eventuality as the pandemic builds in the UK, according to all stakeholders involved.

Producers, processors, retailers, logistics firms and trade bodies sitting on the Food Chain Emergency Liaison Group - co-ordinated by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) - are liaising regularly to discuss developments.

Charlotte Lawson, director of member services at the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), who represents the FDF on that group, said: "Our members receive daily updates from government. We have set up an incident management team, which I'm heading, and send out email alerts to help companies put appropriate plans in place.

"It's all about communication. The thing is to be vigilant and use the time now to get plans in place in anticipation of the expected rise in cases."

A Greencore spokesman said: "We have incident management plans in place for each category and site that would handle a reduction in workforce. We work closely with the Chilled Food Association, monitoring the situation and taking advice and recommendations from the Cabinet Office and the NHS."

Cabinet Office figures issued via the Business Advisory Network for Flu predict a 9% drop in staff numbers due to illness by the end of August - and 12% as the infection peaks. Processors could impose force majeure, rationing supplies if they were badly hit, said Lawson. But she said: "I'm unaware of any plans in this area."

The government could relax rules surrounding the EU Working Time Directive, enabling lorry drivers to cover sick colleagues, said Chris Sturman, chief executive of the Food Storage and Distribution Federation. "There would have to be the ability to switch people around and work longer hours. There's likely to be categorisation of tasks by customer."

Andrew Opie, director of food and consumer policy at the British Retail Consortium, is meeting government officials in August for an update on issues surrounding swine flu and retailers. "I have emailed DEFRA to set up a weekly virtual meeting group," he said, adding that a system existed to trigger orders of products consumers might stockpile.

In addition, grocery think tank IGD is organising a stakeholder workshop tackling swine flu issues next month.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson has warned doctors to prepare for a spike in swine flu cases this autumn and winter.