Somerset farmer fined £50,000 for faking salmonella test results

A farmer has been ordered to pay more than £50,000 for failing to test chickens and eggs for salmonella before they went into the food chain.

Stuart Perkins, 38, from Radstock in Somerset, was also found to have presented birds for slaughter with either fake documents or with documentation which did not relate to those particular birds.

At Bath Magistrates Court he admitted failing to carry out the legally required testing for two years.

By law, farms producing eggs are required to conduct salmonella tests in their poultry sheds every 15 weeks during the laying period.

When an inspector visited his farm Perkins produced 16 reports dated back to August 2021, 13 of which had been falsified.

Fakir Mohamed Osman, from the South West Trading Standards Service said: “We take breaches of this kind very seriously. The prevention of salmonella programme is there for a reason, to safeguard the public. Producers suspected of not carrying out the required testing will be investigated.

“The defendant’s actions presented a real risk to public health, and I am pleased that, thanks to our collaborative efforts with the Food Standards Agency, we were able to take action”.

Perkins and his company, SG Perkins Limited was ordered to pay a total of £50,830.75.

Andrew Quinn, from the Food Standards Agency’s National Food Crime Unit said: "We welcome this substantial fine as it shows the serious nature of faking documents and jeopardising food safety.

"This should act as a deterrent to anyone else considering taking dangerous shortcuts and breaching food safety and hygiene law."