Risky animal by-products could get into UK food chain: Elliott

Animal by-products not fit for human consumption could be finding their way into the UK food chain through unscrupulous meat operators, putting consumers at risk, a government-commissioned review of the UK food system has warned.

Professor Chris Elliott, who was asked by Defra to review the UK food industry in the wake of the horsemeat scandal, said he had been told by sources that so-called Category 1 animal by-products – which are considered high risk and are not allowed to be used even in pet food – were being re-sold as Category 3 material, which is classed as low risk and can be used in pet food.

Although he had received no evidence to date that such re-labelled material had made its way into the human food chain, there was a very real risk this could happen, Elliott warned.

“Much of the meat which is eligible only for pet food looks no different to meat which is fit for human consumption. Purchase of such meat at pet-food price for resale as meat fit for human consumption would be extremely profitable. Where, as is occasionally the case, Category 3 animal by-product cold stores are adjacent to licensed cold stores holding meat and meat products for human consumption, the opportunity for fraud is greater and the fraudulent activities much less susceptible to detection.”

Elliott added: “I have been told in confidence where Category 1 and Category 3 animal by-product rendering plants occupy the same or adjacent sites that significant amounts of Category 1 material (which is expensive to dispose of) is being treated as Category 3 material (which can be sold at a profit).”

This meant at some point risky Category 1 material could end up being sold for human consumption. Both industry and the government needed to acknowledge the risks of substitution of meat not fit for human consumption entering the human supply chain and “introduce anti-fraud auditing measures that will make such substitutions more easily detected”, Elliott recommended in his report.

Although Elliott’s review is concerned with the UK food system in general rather than the horsemeat scandal specifically, it does contain a number of observations and recommendations about fraud risk in the meat industry, including recommendations that cold stores and meat traders be subject to more robust checks and inspections.