Council acts on horsemeat scandal

PUBLIC protection officers at Warrington Borough Council are doing all they can to ensure the town’s residents are not exposed to contaminated meat, in the light of the horsemeat scandals.
Peter Astley (pictured), the council’s public protection manager, said: “In the wake of this national issue I’m keen to assure our residents that we are doing all we can in Warrington to ensure that the public are not exposed to adulterated meat products.
“We are carefully monitoring the national picture to ensure that we react quickly to any new developments.”
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is leading on the national response to the developing horsemeat issue.
At the end of last week the FSA issued guidance to UK firms to test all processed beef foods, but said it did not suspect there is any health issue with frozen food.
Locally, the council’s public protection team has been working with local food producers, including those who use minced beef in their products, to ensure that they can verify their audit trail.
Officers have also been recommending that local food producers commission their own independent tests to back up their audit trail.
The team is also helping all public bodies in the borough including prisons, private hospitals, colleges, academies and the local authority’s school meals service to examine their respective supply chains.
The latest national information can be obtained by visiting www.food.gov.uk