Meat wholesaler suspends supplies after probe by Food Standards Agency

Meat supplied by a West Midlands wholesaler to customers including pub chain Wetherspoons, schools and care homes has been stopped from leaving its premises following food safety concerns.

Wetherspoons withdrew all steak from its menus this week following concerns about the meat supplied by Great Barr-based Russell Hume.

Officers from the Food Standards Agency carried out an unannounced inspection of Russell Hume’s site on January 12 after it said it had become aware of “instances of serious non-compliance with food hygiene regulations”.

It said this had led the FSA, together with Food Standards Scotland, to investigate all Russell Hume sites, and other locations where its product is stored, in England, Scotland and Wales.

As a result, it said Russell Hume had been unable to demonstrate compliance with food hygiene rules at its locations.

“So, we have stopped any product from leaving their sites until the business can provide assurances that they are complying with the relevant legislation, and that they are producing safe food,” said the FSA in a statement.

“We have also instructed Russell Hume to undertake a withdrawal of all affected product in the supply chain.”

It said there was no indication that anyone had become ill from eating meat supplied by Russell Hume.

“However, we are concerned about the poor practices in place at their premises so that is why we have taken proportionate action to ensure no meat can leave their sites at present. We are continuing to assess the situation,” it added.

Meat from Russell Hume is distributed to a range of outlets, including hospitality and catering businesses, and care homes and schools.

All unused meat supplied by Russell Hume has been subsequently withdrawn from the businesses supplied until assurances are given that standards are being met.

“The company is co-operating with our investigation and is currently reviewing its procedures and retraining its staff,” added the FSA.

Investigations are ongoing.

The Russell Hume website was out of action today, however, statements issued earlier by the firm said the recall of meat had been a precautionary measure because of mislabelling.

It said it had no reason to believe any of its produce was unsafe to eat.