Retailers to meet over food safety

Major retailers and suppliers will meet the Food Standards Agency (FSA) today to work out how to prevent food becoming contaminated and entering the supply chain.

The FSA ordered the meeting last week following a spate of mis-labelled or contaminated food products reaching the public.

Yesterday a company which supplied halal food found to contain traces of pork DNA was named.

Food distributor 3663 identified McColgan Quality Foods Limited, a Northern Ireland-based company, as the source of "the very small number of halal savoury beef pastry products" found to contain pork DNA which it supplied to prisons.

In a statement, 3663 confirmed that all halal products from this manufacturer have been withdrawn from supply.

3663 has not been suspended, but a "sub-contractor" has been suspended, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said. Islamic law forbids the consumption of pork.