Hygiene, safety & cleaning

Food safety culture ‘failure’ at chicken plant

Culture of food safety missing at 2 Sisters chicken plant

By Rick Pendrous

2 Sisters Food Group’s (2SFG’s) West Bromwich chicken processing site needs to set up a far more effective hygiene culture and whistleblowing procedures to prevent a reoccurrence of the unacceptable practises identified by the recent undercover investigation...

The pace of food manufacturing change has quickened over the past 90 years

90 year birthday special

Food industry’s 90 years of innovation

By Colin Dennis

Food and drink manufacture has undergone major advances, designed to meet changing consumer tastes and modern production standards.

Food safety culture tends to vary between companies, claim experts

Feature analysis

Food safety: why it’s all a state of mind

By Paul Gander

Is ‘food safety culture’ too fuzzy-edged a concept to be an important objective in its own right? Not at all, say the experts.

Greencore was fined £1M, after a contractor fell from a stepladder and died

Greencore fined £1M for worker’s death

By Gwen Ridler

Convenience food manufacturer Greencore has been fined £1M for safety failings, after a contractor died after falling from a stepladder. 

Over 65s are more susceptible to listeriosis because of their dietary choices

Listeriosis in elderly linked to lifestyle

By Rick Pendrous

Concern about rising levels of listeriosis food poisoning across Europe caused by contamination with Listeria monocytogenes (Lm), despite relatively low levels of the bacterium being picked up in retail surveys of products, has led the European Food Safety...

The Food Standards Agency has issued guidelines to curb the spread of fipronil-contaminated eggs

FSA reveals new contaminated egg guidelines

By Gwen Ridler

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued fresh guidelines to guard against the risk of imported eggs contaminated with the insecticide fipronil, as it added six new products to the list of products recalled so far.

Thousands of Britons a year could be infected with hepatitis E from imported pork products, a report found

Imported pork ‘infecting thousands’ with hepatitis E

By Matt Atherton

Food manufacturers and processors must shift to locally-sourced foods to minimise the risk of hepatitis E to consumers, says supply chain firm Vendigital, after a Public Health England (PHE) report revealed thousands of Britons a year could be infected...

About 700,000 contaminated eggs were imported into the UK

About 700,000 contaminated eggs imported into UK

By Matt Atherton

The number of imported eggs contaminated with the insecticide fipronil is now estimated at 700,000, leading the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to reveal recalls for a wide range of food products affecting some of Britain’s biggest retailers.

FSA’s Hancock: ‘This is about strengthening regulations; making it better’

FSA will carry on work with EU safety body

By Rick Pendrous

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is confident that its plans for risk-based regulatory change under the Regulating our Future initiative will not be “knocked off course” by the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, currently underway.

Producers should decide which food hygiene practices to use, based on their target buyers, Policy Exchange said

FSA ‘should gain power to assess chlorinated chicken after Brexit’

By Matt Atherton

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) should be given new powers after Brexit to review scientific evidence on alternative food safety practices, including chlorinated-chicken, hormone-treated beef and genetically modified (GM) foods, says think-tank Policy...

The European Commission's proposal to set a legal limit for acrylamide in food has been agreed

EU agrees to set legal limits on acrylamide in food

By Helen Gilbert

Food manufacturers will be required to reduce the presence of acrylamide in food after EU Member States voted in favour of the European Commission’s (EC’s) proposal to set legal limits.

The cost of official inspections will eventually fall on food businesses

FSA lays out plans for regulatory change

By Rick Pendrous

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has set out plans for a fundamental transformation in the way the UK food and drink industry is policed in a document released this week (July 19).

Accident reporting by workers has improved since the system was installed

Web-based monitoring helps Hilton Foods cut accidents

By Rick Pendrous

Hilton Foods UK & Ireland, the meat processing and packing company, has reduced the number of accidents at its sites, thanks in part to the use of a web-based health and safety management system.

The owner of AMKO-Martindale Foods was ordered to pay £6,166.63

Cooking fat maker to pay £6k+ for hygiene offences

By Matt Atherton

The owner of a cooking fat processor has been ordered to pay more than £6,100 after pleading guilty to food hygiene offences, including failure to ensure workers had received adequate food safety training.

65 were arrested in Spain for planning the illegal sale of horsemeat

Horsemeat scam: 65 arrested with alleged leader of 2013 fraud

By Matt Atherton

Spanish police have arrested 65 people for planning the illegal sale of horsemeat, while Belgian police detained the organisation’s suspected leader, who was also the alleged kingpin behind the 2013 horsemeat scandal.

Ward: recalls happen because ‘paperwork never keeps up with production’

Food Safety Conference

Food allergen labelling ‘is still not fit for purpose’

By Rick Pendrous

The number of allergen recalls in pre-packaged food notified within the EU is likely to be “the tip of the iceberg”, food allergen expert Dr Rachel Ward told delegates at Food Manufacture’s food safety conference last month (June 22).

Food safety conference chair Steven Walker says trust was this year's main theme

Food safety conference

Trust was ‘key issue’ at Food safety conference

By Matt Atherton

Developing trust with food safety regulators was the key issue of this year’s Food Manufacture Food safety conference, says the conference chair and Campden BRI director general Professor Steven Walker.

Failure of food handlers to wash their hands properly is a main way norovirus is spread

Food safety conference

Norovirus thrives on poor hand hygiene

By Rick Pendrous

Poor personal hygiene, and specifically the failure of food handlers to wash their hands properly, has been identified as one of the main sources for spreading norovirus – winter vomiting bug – in catering establishments, according to new research published...

John Barnes said the industry would gain more control with the new FSA scheme

Food Safety Conference

Food firms ‘to get more control’ with new FSA plan

By Matt Atherton

The Food Standards Agency’s (FSA’s) plan to refocus its resources to investing more money in strategic science and data analysis will give food and drink manufacturers more control over their destiny, according to former-FSA head of local authority enforcement...

Food Manufacture’s food safety survey identified five fears and four hopes

Food safety conference

Food safety survey: five fears and four hopes

By Michael Stones

Five food safety fears keep factory managers awake at night, while four hopes offer them encouragement, reveals Food Manufacture Group’s exclusive survey.

Mars Chocolate recalled a number of its chocolate products over salmonella fears

Mars recalls chocolate over salmonella fears

By Matt Atherton

Mars Chocolate UK and Mars Ireland are recalling some Galaxy, Maltesers Teasers and Minstrels chocolate products, after routine testing revealed the presence of salmonella.

Food factory workers ‘cutting corners’ risks safety

Exclusive

Workers ‘cutting corners’ threatens food safety

By Rick Pendrous

Pressure to meet tight production schedules is leading some food factory workers and the teams they work within to cut corners, putting food hygiene within those manufacturing sites in jeopardy, a new survey has revealed.

X-ray checks enhance fruit quality control

Online inspection spotlight

X-ray checks enhance fruit quality control

By Rick Pendrous

Fruit specialist Fruit Gourmet, based at Allemans-du-Dropt in south-west France, has selected an Ishida X-ray inspection system for enhanced quality control, following the installation of the company’s multi-head weighers at its site.

Oban Fish Selling Co Ltd was fined £13,500 for the offences

Fish processor to pay £15,000 for hygiene offences

By Matt Atherton

Fish processor Oban Fish Selling Co Ltd has been ordered to pay more than £15,000 for food hygiene offences, after inspectors found cigarette ends in food storage areas, and inadequate food safety management procedures.

Health and safety fines 'could top £10M'

Health and safety fines ‘could top £10M soon’

By Matt Atherton

Health and safety fines in food manufacturing could soon reach more than £10M for a single offence, after a “seismic shift” in the size of penalties since the beginning of last year, according to DWF partner Dominic Watkins.

Mars’s boss David Crean: ‘We need to think differently about food safety ...’

Mars uses technology to raise safety

By Rick Pendrous

Global food giant Mars is undertaking a large research project to “sequence the supply chain” in a move to improve food safety. 

John Barnes will discuss earned recognition at this year's food safety conference

Firms ‘must prepare for promising’ earned recognition

By Matt Atherton

Food Manufacture’s food safety conference will arm delegates with the latest information on earned recognition, according to Enmoore food safety consultant and former Food Standards Agency (FSA) boss John Barnes.