Footage uncovered by the Guardian and ITV show poor hygiene levels and food safety records being altered in the UK’s largest poultry supplier.
The 2 sister’s poultry factory in West Bromwich is part of the 2 Sisters food group, the UK’s 2nd largest food company which processes approximately 6 million chickens a week. Customers of the West Bromwich factory include the UK’s biggest supermarket chains such as Lidl, Aldi, Tesco and M&S.
The undercover footage taken over a 12 week period in the factory unveils a number of shocking practices. The video clearly displayed employees consciously manipulating the kill dates of hundreds of chickens whilst there was also evidence of the location of the chicken’s slaughter being altered. This is a clear attempt to dupe customers into purchasing chicken that is in fact past the sell-by date.
It is not only this practice that will result in customers purchasing potentially harmful chicken. The footage also exposed employees mixing chicken of different slaughter dates on the production line. The result is that 4 day old chicken can end up being packaged with fresh chicken, delivered and sold to unwitting customers.
Also revealed by the footage is evidence of chicken returned by one supermarket due to its poor quality being repackaged and sent to another rival supermarket. More worrying perhaps is the repeated act caught on camera of employees picking chicken off the floor and placing it back on the production line to be packaged.
On delivery of this footage to major supermarket chains, M&S has pulled all chicken delivered by 2 sisters off their shelves. They have subsequently cancelled all future orders until a thorough investigation is undertaken. Lidl and Aldi are following suit. Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s have opted for a softer approach and are launching their own investigations before they decide on a course of action.
2 sisters is part of Mr Boparan’s sprawling £3bn empire which includes well-known brands such as Fox Biscuits and Goodfella’s pizza. He also owns the restaurants Harry Ramsden and Giraffe. Following the release of the footage it is said that Mr Boparan took the allegations “very seriously” and 2 sisters has announced that a thorough internal investigation will commence.
