Shop owner forced to pay £2,000 after carcasses found in plastic bags on chiller floor

A shop has been forced to pay court costs of more than £2,000 after carcasses were found wrapped in plastic bags on the floor of a chiller.

Environmental Health officers carried out a routine hygiene inspection in February 2023 at Freddie's Afro-Caribbean in Whitley Street in Reading.

During the visit, a goat carcass and three part-carcasses, known as 'Smokies', were seized after they were found wrapped in black plastic bags on the floor of the chiller unit, for collection by a customer.

Smokies are a traditional delicacy of many West-African countries, where meat from sheep or goats is scorched with a blow-torch, giving it a smoked odour.

In the UK it is illegal to produce or sell Smokies under the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations.

The regulations state carcasses must be skinned entirely as part of the slaughtering process.

Any meat sold legally in the UK must have been slaughtered in an abattoir and carry an approved Health Identification mark.

Spinal cords must be removed from the animal as they pose a risk of infection of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) disease.

In this case, the carcasses found at Freddie’s were unskinned, their spines had not been removed, and they did not possess the approved Health Identification mark.

Food safety officers also raised concerns about the fuel used to torch the carcasses, as it risked contaminating the meat with carcinogenic substances.

The owner was unable to produce the required paperwork when asked, nor was there any detail available regarding where the meat had been sourced.

At a hearing at Reading Magistrates Court on March 17, justices approved the application for condemnation and destruction of the goods.

Mr. Frederick Otoo, Director of Freddie’s Afro-Caribbean Ltd, was ordered to pay £2,025 in costs to the council.

Cllr Karen Rowland, Lead Member for Environmental Services and Community Safety, said: "I’m pleased our Food Safety team were able to intervene in this case and protect the health of our residents.

"The production and processing in this manner with this kind of meat has been deemed illegal in this country because we are unable to guarantee the correct steps have been taken to make the goods safe.

"It highlights the vital importance of officer’s everyday work, as a routine inspection was able to uncover something much more serious.

"While the vast majority of food outlets in Reading are responsible, we take food violations like this very seriously and I want to thank our officers for their work on this case.

"We especially want to send out the clear message that we will take enforcement action where there is no documentation to prove where food has come from.

"We remain vigilant against potentially unsafe food finding its way to the UK unchecked or examined without accompanying documentation.

"All food businesses must be able to provide a clear audit trail of where produce has come from."