Guest guest Posted June 2, 2003 Report Share Posted June 2, 2003 This just in today from another list. Best, Pat > > Scandal of beef waste in chicken > > Felicity Lawrence, consumer affairs correspondent > Wednesday May 21, 2003 > The Guardian > > http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,2763,960404,00.html > > Food processors have been caught on video boasting that they have > developed undetectable methods of adulterating the chicken that goes > into hospitals, schools and restaurants with cheap beef waste and > water. > Tests by a television programme have also shown samples of > Sainsbury's Blue Parrot chicken nuggets to contain both bovine and > pork DNA. The company says the bovine DNA comes from milk protein and > the presence of pork DNA in one sample may be the result of > contamination in the laboratory. > > In what is likely to be a major food scandal, secret filming for > BBC1's Panorama has revealed that vast quantities of frozen chicken > coming into the UK each week have been injected with beef proteins. > > Working with the Guardian, the programme went undercover to find the > source of the beef proteins. BBC reporters were told by Dutch > manufacturers that beef DNA can now be manipulated in such a way that > the safety authorities' tests cannot detect it. > > Adulterated chicken has been imported widely by British wholesalers. > Brakes, a leading supplier to schools, hospitals and restaurants, has > unwittingly imported chicken with beef DNA, according to laboratory > tests for the BBC. > > On Panorama tomorrow, a German protein supplier for huge Dutch > chicken companies tells undercover reporters his firm, Prowico, has > developed secret hi-tech methods to break down the DNA of the > proteins so much that no government tests can detect the beef. > > The proteins are hydrolysed and mixed into additive powders which are > then injected into chicken meat to hold extra water, thus vastly > increasing profits. Tests have found that some chicken fillets are as > much as 50% added water. > > The director of Prowico, Theo Hietbrink, says that his beef proteins > are guaranteed to be " PCR-negative " - polymerase chain reaction (PCR) > is the test authorities use to find DNA from different species. > > He also says that at least 12 companies are using his new hydrolysed > proteins. > > The owner of Surplus, the Dutch company which blends the Prowico > proteins into powder, tells the undercover reporters the industry has > been extracting hydrolysed beef proteins to inject into chicken and > other meats, including ham, for more than 10 years. > > Prowico says the original source of the beef is cow hides from > Brazil. It admits it does not test its beef for BSE and would not > show reporters the process by which the proteins are extracted. But > it says that Brazil is BSE-free and that hides do not carry a BSE > risk. > > However, the government's leading BSE adviser, Professor Roy > Anderson, warns that since beef is known to carry disease, any use of > undeclared beef proteins is unacceptable. > > The Guardian had revealed that brands of Dutch chicken adulterated > with undeclared beef proteins were widely circulating in the UK a > year ago. Sources in the food manufacturing industry told us that > adulterated Dutch beef was being used to make other chicken products. > The Panorama investigation has now confirmed the Guardian's findings. > > > At the time the food standards agency (FSA) said there was no > evidence. It said that in any case it would be legal so long as it > was labelled and that the practice posed no health risk. > > Subsequent FSA tests failed to find beef in chicken, except in one > case. It continues to maintain that what others call legalised fraud > is simply a " labelling issue " and that the use of hydrolysed proteins > is not illegal if labelled. > > It now says, however, that the possibility of a BSE risk cannot be > ruled out, though it adds there would only be a risk if the beef > waste used to make the proteins had bypassed all the European Union's > BSE controls. > > Panorama sent 12 samples of Dutch chicken to the laboratory used by > British authorities but it did not find any beef DNA. Several of the > same samples were then sent to a private Irish lab, which, using more > sensitive techniques, detected beef DNA in several samples. > > But if the protein manufacturers have now managed to make the beef > PCR-negative, no one will be able to detect it. > > Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University, said: " My > response to the food standards agency saying this is just a matter > for labelling is 'pull the other one'. How naive can you get? We > expect the FSA to not say 'put the information on the label', but > 'sort it out please'. " > > Last year more than 60,000 tonnes of frozen chicken fillets came into > UK ports. Meat from the Dutch companies involved is available at all > main wholesale markets. How much is adulterated is not known. > > Brakes said it had conducted its own independent PCR tests on chicken > it imported but they were negative. Its specification with its Dutch > supplier was for chicken that was 70% fidyl meat. Its own tests > revealed that the chicken had more water than was declared and it has > now recalled it all. > > Brakes said it was very concerned to learn of the Panorama tests and > that the chicken involved represented a very small part of its > supplies. > > The Sainsbury's Blue Parrot chicken nuggets are made from chicken > from the UK, Germany and Holland. The company said its own > independent tests had found no pork DNA in its nuggets and that the > presence of beef DNA was most likely to be caused by milk, a clearly > labelled ingredient in the nuggets: " We are entirely satisfied that > our supplier is only using chicken suppliers who are approved by us. " > > > Prowico and Surplus both say that they have never sold proteins or > additives without declaring their contents and that declaring them on > the label is the responsibility of the processors. Prowico says its > PCR-negative proteins are made to be very pure, not to beat the > tests. Surplus said that it has never intended to mislead. > > The Dutch chicken companies whose products tested positive for beef > in the Panorama tests were T Lelie, Slegtenhorst and Hassan. > > Slegtenhorst said that it did not use beef proteins and the tests > must have been contaminated. > > T Lelie admitted it uses hydrolysed proteins but not beef ones and > has guarantees from its additive suppliers that its mixes do not > contain beef. Hassan declined to comment. > -- SANTBROWN townhounds/ http://www.angelfire.com/art/pendragon/ ---------- * " He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals. " - Immanuel Kant * " I am in favour of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being. " - Abraham Lincoln * " There are too many idiots in this world. And having said it, I have the burden of proving it. 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