Leicestershire food factory ‘covered in black goo’

The Leicestershire factory where Hula Hoops are made has been called “filthy and disgusting”.

A whistleblower at the KP Snacks plant in Ashby de la Zouch said machinery was “rarely cleaned” and “covered in tar-like goo”.

The Daily Star on Sunday claims the plant was covered in the black substance and that food would regularly fall off the conveyors and sit on the floor “for months at a time”.

As well as making Hula Hoops the factory also manufacturers own-brand snacks for Aldi, M&S and Sainsbury’s.

The whistleblower told the Daily Star on Sunday: “It’s disgusting for a food factory. Everyone who works there knows it but they are scared to say anything because they’d lose their jobs.

“They have just bought over £30m of new machinery and it is absolutely covered in rubbish already.”

The insider added: “The environment is filthy. It is horrible.

“The air con throws out black dust which sticks to everything because it is never cleaned.

“There are cleaners but they don’t do much. The machines run 24/7 so it’s hard for them to clean if they never stop. It needs shutting down and having everything deep cleaned.”

KP said it was now carrying out a “thorough investigation”.

In a statement, the firm said: “We take food safety and hygiene very seriously and care passionately about the health and wellbeing of our colleagues.

“Our Ashby factory is regularly audited both internally and by third parties for food safety standards and our customers. All of these audits are always unannounced and have not identified any major issues.

“The production lines are shut down weekly for an 8-10 hour deep clean and there is a clean as-you-go policy to address spillages that do happen in the manufacturing environment.

“An engaged workforce is incredibly important to us and therefore we’ve invested significantly in developing an open culture with meaningful two-way communication. We have internal processes to enable colleagues to raise concerns, and these include an anonymous whistleblowing hotline and an annual engagement survey.

“We are carrying out a thorough investigation as a result of the issues raised by this individual.”