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BBC investigation reveals ASDA's broken frozen food chain
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A BBC investigation has revealed that a lorry load of frozen food which should
have been dumped was sold to customers at an ASDA supermarket.
And ASDA, Britain's second largest supermarket, has admitted to at least three
violations of the company's own guidelines which are in place to ensure chilled
and frozen foods are of good quality and safe.
Speaking on BBC One's Shopping The Supermarkets – Our Food In Their Hands, Dawn
Welham, Head of Trading Law at ASDA, said: "We hold our hands up. We got it
wrong. But whilst I say we got it wrong, we did not compromise food safety."
The investigation - to be shown on BBC One on Monday 12 February at 9.15am - is
the first of five programmes about the supermarket industry being shown all
week.
In Shopping The Supermarkets – Our Food In Their Hands, ASDA admits to one case
where broken guidelines came to light after one of its workers, Phil Wynne,
complained.
Mr Wynne had worked for ASDA for five years delivering to their
stores.
He heard that a lorry load of frozen food had been left at the wrong
temperature all day at ASDA's distribution depot in Bristol.
Instead of being
dumped as it was supposed to, the food went to a store in Longwell Green, Mr
Wynne's local store.
Laws state that quick frozen food should be kept at -18 degrees Celsius or
colder, except for a short time during the delivery process when it is
acceptable for frozen food to reach -15 degrees Celsius.
On arrival the food
should be put into the store's freezers as quickly as possible, which under
ASDA's guidelines is within 20 minutes.
Robert Reader, General Manager of Christian Salveson, one of the country's
largest manufacturers and distributors of frozen food, said: "If frozen food
was subjected to temperatures of warmer than -18, there is no question in my
mind that the product would be seriously at risk and would present a risk to
food safety were it consumed."
Mr Reader said if this happened at his company the food would be destroyed: "It
should be destroyed and removed from the food chain. There's no question in my
mind that the product would have to be destroyed."
ASDA agrees the food should have been dumped. The food was sent to a store
where staff realised it was at the wrong temperature and turned the food away.
ASDA said it has measures in place to prevent this from happening again, but a
recurrence did happen to a store in Poole, Dorset.
The store was told by the
distribution depot that it had to accept the food which was then sold to the
public.
ASDA admitted this was wrong and against their guidelines and rules.
ASDA recommends that frozen food should not be left in the open for more than
20 minutes and denied this happens to any of their frozen foods.
However, when told of filmed evidence of a box marked "Keep frozen below -18"
sitting outside a store for an hour - three times longer than the store's own
guidelines, the company said: "We have strict guidelines and on this occasion
we got it wrong but have taken the store to task and retrained the colleagues
so I'm confident that that will not happen again."
Dawn Welham went on to say: "We are in the trust
business not just in the retail business.
"I'm happy to say we now have a
million more customers shopping with us week by week, compared to the same
period as last year.
"The reason for that is that the customer is happy with our
product. They are getting safer products. The systems that we have got in place
absolutely deliver food safety to our customers."
Notes to Editors
Any use of any part of this release should incorporate a credit for – Shopping
the Supermarkets, BBC One, 9.15am, Monday 12 February 2007.
TE
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