Will Brits have a ‘stiff upper lip’ about this food safety crap?

The Independent reports that the butcher at the centre of a fatal E.coli outbreak which claimed the life of a five-year-old boy sold rotten meat for years before the tragedy, an inquest heard today.

Mason Jones, of Deri, near Bargoed, lost his life to the deadly food poisoning bug which struck 44 schools in the South Wales valleys.

The outbreak, in September 2005, had become the second biggest to hit the UK by the time it ran its course.

Mason's mother Sharon Mills sobbed repeatedly today at the inquest into his death in Newport.

The coroner's court also got an insight into chronically lax hygiene practices at the butcher business which triggered the outbreak.

John Tudor and Son, based at Bridgend Industrial Estate, supplied meat to dozens of schools and residential homes for the elderly.

Company boss and owner William John Tudor, 58, of Cowbridge, South Wales, was jailed for one year at Cardiff Crown Court in September 2007.

Tudor admitted six counts of placing unsafe food on the market and one of failing to protect food against the risk of contamination.

The inquest today heard he habitually lied to the authorities about his practices and falsified records - two months at a time.

His underhand practices were so habitual he literally used to pass off mutton as lamb to his customers.

Detective Superintendent Paul Burke headed a criminal inquiry after the firm was pinpointed as the source of the outbreak.

He said staff at the firm were interviewed about hygiene standards during the inquiry.

"A number of people told me in interview about meat that was smelling or poor and when brought to Mr Tudor's attention they were told to put it in the faggots," he said.

"When meat was turning yellow they were told to 'mince it up' and put it in the faggots."

The idea being that because faggots were spicy they would hide the taste of the meat.

He added: "Mutton was literally passed off as lamb."

The firm would buy frozen New Zealand mutton and sell it on to customers as Welsh lamb.

False batch numbers linking it to a legitimate farm in Abergavenny were used to hide its origin.

He said that according to staff at the firm, disregard for hygiene rules had gone on for years.

It was not known whether any of the affected schools ever received the faggots or mutton.

Equally, it was not possible to tell whether the factory had caused other E. coli or food poisoning outbreaks in the past.

He said Tudor was well aware of safe hygiene practice because he had successfully sat a grade three hygiene diploma in 2002.

But some staff members were found to have never attended even basic hygiene courses, despite the need to do so.

It was also found his factory's only vacuum packing machine was "not fit for purpose" and was used for both raw and cooked meats.

A "dirty old brush and container of water" was used to clean the machine between different users; often it was not cleaned at all.

Cooked and raw meats were stored together and decomposing meat was discovered in a fridge section at the factory.

Meat seized from the operation was found to contain an identical E. coli O157 strain as the one that killed Mason.

The same strain was found at a Welsh farm where the meat originated and an abattoir where Tudor bought the meat.

Mr Burke stressed that a certain percentage of healthy cattle carry the strain of E.coli without harm to them.

But the fact it could prove deadly to people, particularly children and elderly, underlined why basic hygiene was necessary.
 

Scotland has the highest rate of E coli O157 infection in the world and experts are struggling to maintain the fight against the infection.

Prof Hugh Pennington, who has chaired two public inquiries into major outbreaks of E. coli O157, said he was concerned about the number of experienced personnel being lost due to budget cuts, adding,

"Worryingly environmental health now seems to be being driven by HR departments."

Rod House, president of the Royal Environmental Health Institute for Scotland, said many senior officers were taking early retirement as councils seek to reduce their wage bills, yet fewer trainees are being appointed.
 

Ya can’t inspect your way to a safe food supply.

For all those in Canada and America clamoring for more inspectors, please, read the report Bill-Murray-in-Groundhog-Day impersonator Professor Hugh Pennington wrote after the 2005 E. coli O157 outbreak in Wales, which sickened 160 and killed 5-year-old Mason Jones (right).

The Western Mail reports this morning that the parents of those kids want the inspectors – the environmental health officers who failed to shut down the butcher responsible for the E .coli outbreak – fired.

Julie Price, 44, whose son Garyn, 13, was left fighting for his life after his kidneys failed when he contracted E.coli O157, said:

“At the end of the day, the buck stops with (butcher) Tudor, but these people were in place to protect our children and they didn’t. I would like to see them sacked.”

Jeanette Thomas, 37, from Mountain Ash, whose sons Garyn ,10, and Keiron ,13, both contracted the bug, said,

“These environmental health officers shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it, especially considering what these poor kids have been through."

Pennington’s report noted that the inspectors, could and should have stopped Tudor using a single vacuum-packing machine for raw and cooked meat.

The butcher was HACCP-trained, inspected and in the business for 30 years, but apparently didn't know or care about cross-contamination between raw and cooked product. Neither did the imspectors.