Experts call for more integration to tackle food fraud

That was the message delivered by an expert panel at Food Manufacture Group’s debate Horsegate: one year on,​ held at the Foodex trade show at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre on March 24.

“The four ports where we import some 90% of our food, Southampton, Felixstowe, Tilbury and Heathrow, [must be] checked over in the same way as the 15,000 food manufacturers in this country, by not the FSA ​[Food Standards Agency], but local government, Environmental Health and Trading Standards officers,”​ said Lord Jeff Rooker, ex-chairman of the FSA and one of the panellists.

Not politically sexy​

However, he warned: “In local government, that is not the politically sexy area of activity: where the Treasurers are looking to cut, there’s been no problem … that’s one area that has to be strengthened.”​

Rooker also called on industry to be more prepared to share information with the FSA. “If it doesn’t come to a central body, you can’t see the problems that occur in the North of Scotland, the west of Wales, East Anglia and Cornwall. Maybe the same thing spotted by four different people needs to be fed in and matched.”​

Aside from Lord Rooker, panellists included Mark Driscoll, Forum for the Future’s head of food, Elizabeth Andoh-Kesson, British Retail Consortium food policy adviser, and Dominic Watkins, head of food at law firm DWF. The others were Ed Bedington, editor of Food Manufacture​’s sister title Meat Trades Journal and Nick Allen, sector director at the English Beef and Lamb Executive.

‘Joined-up approach’​

Driscoll stressed the need for more third party supplier verification. “The second thing is really a more joined-up approach to government,” ​he added.

“Often the Department of Health doesn’t really know what Defra ​[the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs] is doing. What we really need is a more integrated food and farming strategy.”​

Allen agreed, claiming confusion over responsibilities caused authorities to hesitate too much over the initial handling of the horsemeat food fraud crisis. “We can’t have this pass the parcel … from my point of view this went on for two or three weeks passing responsibility, so that needs sorting out.”​

For more conclusions from the panellists, view this exclusive video.

The horsemeat scandal first hit headlines in January 2013, when the Food Safety Authority of Ireland announced it had discovered horse DNA in beef burgers sold by top supermarkets, including Tesco​.

To hear why Dominic Watkins believes due diligence is only part of the answer for firms that want to protect themselves from food fraud, view another exclusive video from Foodex here​.