No horse meat found after Derby City Council checks processing plants
TRADING standards officers at the city council have checked Derby's four main meat processing plants in the light of the horse meat scandal.
The authority's trading standards team joined colleagues across the UK on high alert, following the recent discovery of horse meat in some processed foods.
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Councillor Hardyal Dhindsa said the authority was being pro-active.
Officials have now confirmed no horse meat has been found in the city.
Investigations are already taking place in 28 local authority areas – such as Derbyshire but not including Derby – as part of work demanded by the Food Standards Agency.
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But Doug Walkman, of the council's trading standards team said: "Although we are not one of the 28 selected authorities, we have immediately responded by checking with all four main meat processing plants in the city and none are affected."
Councillor Hardyal Dhindsa, portfolio holder with responsibility for trading standards, said: "Derby City Council prides itself on taking a pro-active approach to this type of issue.
"Officers are working to identify any areas of concern and deal with them accordingly. In challenging economic times such as this, it may be that meat processors have looked for cheaper sources of meat and been sold something they didn't expect.
"However, all businesses must have robust procedures in place to ensure the food they sell is correctly described. Businesses which fail to do this could be committing serious criminal offences."
Mr Dhindsa also sought to reassure parents children had not been exposed to the tainted meat products.
He said: "Derby City Council has worked with our school meals contractor, Chartwells, to confirm sourcing of meat products has not been impacted by the current horse meat scandal.
And Glenis Willmott, MEP for the East Midlands, has called for the scandal to be discussed at the European Parliament on Monday.
Anyone with concerns about fraudulently-described meat products should contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 08454 405060.
6 Comments
by Marcus_oNE
Thursday, February 14 2013, 10:01PM
“Most of the take aways in Derby do not necessarily buy their meat from processing plants in Derby they are buying it from other parts of the country.. So shouldn't the council be checking take aways meat to see if it is contaminated or something else?”
by got2say
Wednesday, February 13 2013, 10:27PM
“Got a point about the Trade of Dogs for meat - I'm totally against !”
by KevTheGerbil
Wednesday, February 13 2013, 5:02PM
“Perhaps they should check out the kebab shops. God knows what, or who, they're going to find in those.”
by DerbyResident
Wednesday, February 13 2013, 3:21PM
“by got2say
. On the continent it is quite acceptable to eat horse - snails - frogs ...."
So nwhy should we adopt their filthy habits?
Some countries eat dogs too, are you suggesting we do that also? How barbaric.”
by got2say
Wednesday, February 13 2013, 10:26AM
“They should allow inclusion of any mix of meat as long as it is safe,properly sourced and labelled accordingly. On the continent it is quite acceptable to eat horse - snails - frogs ....”
by dianae
Wednesday, February 13 2013, 8:48AM
“The main issue seems to be with meat from abroad - once it is in convenience foods,it is hard to tell whether it is beef or horse.
I know some people feel that eating horse is not for them - but the major points are the fraud involved in labelling it beef and whether the horses were destined for Belgium etc or whether they were full of chemicals banned from the human food chain.
It may turn out that some people actually find that they like horse meat more than the previous contents of value products - mechanically recovered meat or desinewed meat.
The producers were going for a bigger profit by supplying horsemeat from unknown sources instead of reputably sourced and decent quality beef. Prices well well rise in order to guarantee a beef burger is beef”