Rotten poultry sold for food, court told

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 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,976395,00.html

Rotten poultry sold for food, court told 

Martin Wainwright
Friday June 13, 2003
The Guardian 

Thousands of tonnes of chicken condemned as unfit to eat were sold into the burger and processed-food market by a gang, a court heard yesterday. 
The meat had been left in the open air in skips or stored in rat-infested outbuildings before sale, a jury at Nottingham crown court was told.

Millions of chicken and turkey carcasses entered the human food chain over a five-year period, said prosecutor Ben Nolan QC.

The scam was simple: waste food was bought for as little as £25 a tonne for animal feed or fertiliser processing, relabelled and sold for up to £1,792 a tonne as human food.

Three organisers of Denby Poultry Products Ltd based in Denby, Derbyshire, deny conspiracy to defraud, along with two of their most regular customers

Mr Nolan said: "Their scheme between 1995 and 2001 passed off condemned poultry, which at best was fit only for pet food, as wholesome food for human consumption.

"The meat included dead-on-arrival birds whose flesh or innards showed signs of communicable diseases such as bacterial hepatitis, staphylococcus and E coli septicaemia.

"Over the whole period of this alleged conspiracy very large quantities of condemned poultry made its way into the human food chain at significant risk to public health."

Peter Roberts, 68, of Derby, is being tried in his absence after failing to answer a summons.

The other accused are Brian Davies, 64, and Brian Paul Davies, 37, both of Bury, Lancashire, Simon Haslam, 39, of Belper, Derbyshire and David Watson, 38, of Bletchley, Buckinghamshire.

Mr Nolan described the group's headquarters as like something out of a horror film. He said: "Buildings were dilapidated, in places open to the elements, the surrounding land is infested with rats and parts were covered with standing water which was contaminated with sewage."

The stock was collected in maggot-infested vans from across the country and later delivered to food manufacturing companies in the same unrefrigerated vehicles. The firm's annual turnover had reached at least £836,000.

Mr Nolan said the firm also supplied contaminated meat to a major chicken paste manufacturer, elderly people's homes and a leading supermarket chain.

The trial continues today.


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