UK – Fairfax Meadow, a supplier of meat products in the UK has called for a voluntary withdrawal of its meat products from a series of pubs, bars, hotel and restaurants after a surprise inspection visit by the Foods Standards Agency (FSA).
FSA had made the unannounced inspection at its premises in England and Scotland based on confidential information they had received that the company was failing to properly label its meat products.
The company said that although they were not aware of the findings from the investigation, the withdrawal followed an order from the FSA as a precaution.
Following the order, the company recalled from some of its biggest customers including Jurys Inn, Greene King, Crowne Plaza, Marriott, Giraffe restaurants, Nando’s and Wetherspoons.
Fairfax Meadow is one of the leading companies in the UK for serving customers across a diverse range of foodservice sectors including Pubs & Bars, Casual Dining, Hotels, Travel & Leisure and Contract Catering.
In a statement, the company said that it was committed to ensuring safety, hygiene and quality for its beef and a range of different cuts of steaks; including rib-eye, flat-iron, bavette and featherblade.
FSA revealed that it had no intentions to take enforcement action against Fairfax and it will continue with normal operations since it had agreed to change the necessary procedures.
In October 2017, Fairfax Meadow was on the spotlight again due to ‘Use by’ dates concerns leading to a withdrawal of its meat products.
The UK meat industry is undergoing serious scandals calling for intervention from both the public and private sector.
Professor Chris Elliott, the scientist who led the government’s inquiry into the horse meat scandal four years ago questioned the factory inspections and audits carried out by respective agencies.
“Another serious issue has come to light in UK meat industry.
More recalls of meat that appears to have been mislabelled.
The FSA reassure us that we have nothing to worry about but I believe we do,” said Professor Chris Elliott in an interview.
This follows an order by the FSA to stop meat deliveries from Russel Hume allegedly due to non-compliance to food hygiene standards.
The question is whether the FSA is ready to take proportionate action to curb poor practices at meat practices at the interest of consumer protection.
