The U.K. Food Standards Agency (FSA) extended its investigation of 2 Sisters Food Group to include other plants.
The agency had been conducting an investigation at 2 Sisters’ poultry plant in West Bromwich, following reports that alleged breaches in food safety procedures had taken place.
The Guardian and ITV alleged the company had:
- Committed hygiene failures, including picking chicken meat off of the floor and placing it back on a conveyor
- Manipulated slaughter date labels to make the meat seem fresher than it really was
- Repackaged meat that had been returned from other stores with incorrect dates printed on labels
- Mixed older poultry meat with newer poultry meat
Expanded investigation
According to a news release from the FSA, the agency has decided to extend its investigation to other 2 Sisters poultry plants in England and Wales, although no further information regarding how many plants or where exactly they were located was given.
No food safety issues were identified at the additional plants, FSA stated, but the agency sees issues requiring management attention, such as “some aspects of staff training and stock control.”
FSA said it is working with the major retailers supplied by 2 Sisters Food Group, as well as reviewing information from a variety of other sources.
West Bromwich facility operations suspended
2 Sisters has since suspended operations at the West Bromwich facility, and initiated an internal investigation while inviting FSA to investigate. 2 Sisters revealed that it had not identified any breaches, but it did find some “isolated instances of non-compliance with our own quality management systems.”
The company is retraining all staff at the West Bromwich, with pay, during the time the operations are suspended.
2 Sisters Food Group, according to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database, supplies about one third of all poultry products consumed in the U.K.
