Noel Chadwick Ltd

[John Chadwick]

Many of us will remember the Derbyshire chicken fiasco, when poultry meat classed as unfit for human consumption found its way into retailers, most of them large.

The only prosecutions made were against the individuals involved at the start of the chain. No "big boys" appeared in court.

Why?

Because these multiple retailers had all got "HACCP" in place and part of this was a box or boxes ticked to state that they had taken all the necessary steps to ensure any suppliers they used were reputable.

This protected them from legal action even though there were obvious failings in their supply chain.

HACCP protects the wrong side.

It offers no protection to the public but gives immunity against prosecution for those guilty of "stretching" food hygiene regulations providing they have the required paperwork in place.

I believe that the health of the public should be protected and that is why I will continue to campaign against the implementation of HACCP.

Good hygiene practice should replace HACCP with spot checks carried out by people that understand the production of food not the inspection of paperwork.