OT: Food Fraud ** Anything for a Profit

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[HEALTHE] Fw: [uK] Chicken Doctored With Hydrolysed Pork and

Beef Proteins...

Thu, 13 Mar 2003 07:17:40 -0800

Andrew Gach <unclewolf

Health and Environment Resource Center

<HEALTHE

HEALTHE

 

 

[uK] Chicken doctored with hydrolysed pork and beef proteins...

 

http://www.news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/03/13/nchick13.xm\

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Food watchdogs reveal 'doctored chicken' racket.

By Robert Uhlig, Food Correspondent, London Daily-Telegraph

(Filed: 13/03/2003)

 

A vast " consumer chicken con " involving tens of thousands of tons of

chicken doctored with hydrolysed pork and beef proteins has been

uncovered by the Food Standards Agency and local authorities across

Britain.

 

The investigation found that almost three quarters of the samples of

chicken supplied to restaurants, takeaways, schools, commercial and

institutional caterers were not legally worthy of their labels of

chicken breast or fillet.

 

Almost half contained pork or beef protein, derived from skin, bone or

connective tissue, even though all but one of them were labelled as

halal.

 

More than 50 per cent were pumped up with water and other chemicals

forced into the meat by " tumbling " in huge, expensive machines to boost

their weight by up to a quarter.

 

The practice is in itself not illegal. However, it is fraudulent not to

declare the true meat, water and chemical content of the chicken, most

of which was dumped in Britain by seven major Dutch manufacturers.

 

John Sandford, a trading standards officer in Hull, said the list of

guilty chicken processors also included one British firm, which was not

named in case it prejudiced any criminal charges.

 

The fraud involved 60,000 tons of frozen chicken, about 40 per cent of

imports. Mr Sandford said the investigation was prompted by complaints

from restaurant and takeaway customers that " they had eaten some

particularly rubbery chicken " .

 

David Statham, director of enforcement at the FSA, said that most of the

chicken was used by the catering trade. He said a small amount was " sold

through the retail trade, mainly smaller shops " .

 

He said anyone who bought the chicken faced a " double whammy " because

the manufacturers were " over-declaring the meat content and

under-declaring the water content " .

 

He went on: " What is even more unacceptable is the total disregard as to

how offensive this is to Muslim communities who may be eating food which

is forbidden by their religious beliefs.

 

" For this reason, we have identified the brands so that people catering

for these communities can take action to avoid them. "

 

He said the motive was " entirely economic " and added: " If you can sell

water at the price of chicken breast, that has got to be a good move

even if the water companies are putting up their prices. "

 

The FSA is looking at widening its investigation to examine claims that

chicken destined for products sold widely in shops and supermarkets,

such as pies and ready meals, could also be doctored. A carefully-worded

statement on the food fraud, issued by the FSA, did not rule out the

possibility that supermarket chicken products had also been doctored.

 

It said: " Processed chicken products, such as chicken burgers and

nuggets, bought from the supermarket might contain added water and other

ingredients, but these should be clearly marked on the label. "

 

These are the same labelling regulations that were widely ignored by the

suppliers of catering chicken highlighted by the FSA yesterday.

 

The statement also did not exclude fresh chicken pieces bought at

supermarkets and other shops. Fresh chicken pieces bought at

" supermarkets are covered by very specific regulations and should not

have any ingredients added " , it said.

 

Concerns were also raised about a possible BSE risk through bovine

proteins injected into the chicken. The FSA said the proteins came from

collagen extracted from cow hides, which it said would not be a risk.

 

However, concerning " traces of beef that may be in any other products " ,

it said these would not raise any new food safety concerns " provided

European-wide BSE controls have been applied " .

 

Mr Sandford said about half the cases of identified catering chicken

fraud had prompted formal investigations that were likely to result in

criminal prosecutions.

 

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