This Tuesday the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee published its report into Food Contamination. The document followed up on February’s Contamination of Beef Products report, which investigated the scandal of supermarket beef products that were found to be contaminated with horse or pig meat.
Laboratory testing carried out since has found that around 1% of products tested were contaminated, although this figure was 4.66% across the EU.
The Food Contamination report calls for stronger penalties for food fraud, more extensive food testing by retailers, and greater action by the Food Standards Agency to tackle fraud including new powers to compel the industry to carry out food testing.
Emma Lewell-Buck, Member of Parliament for South Shields and member of the Committee, said:
“Six months on we now know the full extent of the horsemeat scandal. Although thankfully the scale of contamination was relatively low in the UK, 1% of products is still 1% too many, and it is vital that we strengthen our testing regime so that consumers can have confidence in the food they buy.”