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A Hadleigh butcher was today facing threat of prosecution after officers from Babergh District Council’s Food and Safety Regulation Team seized ten condemned pig carcasses weighing over 700kgs from his town centre premises.
Working on a call from a local resident that Mark and Anne-Marie Rothwell, of Pierpoint’s, in Hadleigh High Street, had taken possession of the carcasses from a supplier other than a licensed abattoir. Babergh officers removed the items on Friday.
At a hearing today (Monday, March 10th) Sudbury Magistrates’ Court formally condemned the meat, which will now be incinerated.
Magistrates awarded legal costs of £1,000 against the supplier of the meat, farmer Michael Barrell, of Stowmarket. He was also ordered to pay incineration costs of £298.
According to Emma Richbell, Babergh’s Senior Food and Safety Officer who led the investigations and subsequent action: “It is a legal requirement that any meat for sale comes from livestock slaughtered in a licensed abattoir and is stamped accordingly.”
Meat slaughtered at an abattoir has a range of pre and post-mortem checks carried out by a vet as well as being accompanied by documentation detailing any medical treatment of the live animals.
Ms Richbell continued: “It is a serious offence to bypass these requirements as the lack of any formal traceability back to the supplier makes it very difficult to vouch for the healthiness of the meat.”
John Rainer, Food and Safety Regulation Manager at Babergh, said: “We are constantly checking food outlets for this, and related issues, and always adopt a zero-tolerance approach where risks to public health are concerned.
“The Council is now pulling together all the evidence that it has gathered with a view to further legal action concerning both the butcher and supplier involved.”
Babergh’s Food and Safety Regulation Team carry out over 300 routine inspections of food premises annually and in the last 12 months have dealt with about 50 complaints concerning food businesses. ENDS
More Information on food safety enforcement.
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