In response to the inquiry the FSA will work with industry on a voluntary protocol for adoption of CCTV in meat processing plants and will consult on legislating to implement them if necessary.
FSA will also be running pilots to improve data and intelligence sharing across the industry and is pursuing increased investigatory powers for the National Food Crime Unit.
The investigation into 2 Sisters Food Group has been extensive and thorough and looked across its poultry sites. It was triggered last autumn after an undercover investigation by The Guardian and ITN, which filmed inside the firm’s cutting plant in West Bromwich.
500 hours of CCTV from the site were examined along with audit information from major retailers. The company voluntarily ceased production at one site whilst changes were made and staff re-trained. The FSA have had a permanent presence at their cutting plants for the last four months.
Jason Feeney, Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency said: “Our investigation found some areas for improvement but the issues were resolved promptly by the company, who co-operated fully, and at no point did we find it necessary to take formal enforcement action.”
“The business has made a wide range of improvements across all their sites to improve processes. They are already publishing the outcomes of all their audits and are in the process of installing high quality CCTV across their estate that we will have full access to. These are measures we would like the whole industry to adopt.”
Last week Ranjit Boparan, 2 Sisters founder and chief executive announced he was stepping aside into the role of ‘president’ and the firm was starting the process of recruiting a new chief executive.
2 Sisters Food Group said in a statement: “We welcome the publication of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) investigative report into our UK poultry sites and we fully support its outcomes and recommendations.
“Not only did we act swiftly on remedying the situation once alerted last year, we have led the way with new initiatives to ensure trust and transparency are maintained within the industry.
“For example, we are the only UK food business to publish all of its audit outcomes and are introducing independently monitored CCTV at all of our cutting plants.
“We look forward to continuing an open and positive dialogue with the FSA and other regulatory bodies.”