Fight over food safety


Public services union UNISON has joined forces with the petition website change.org to fight plans by the Food Safety Agency (FSA) to allow the meat industry to regulate itself. 


The food safety watchdog is proposing changes to the current system to cover different sizes of business and claims that “many big businesses have robust auditing and sampling regimes in place to ensure that the food they provide to consumers is safe”.


But UNISON highlighted the 2013 horse meat scandal, pointing out that it needed the FSA of Ireland to spot the presence of undeclared and potentially harmful horse meat in beef products and that unlisted pork was found in products being sold by big businesses including Tesco, Aldi and Iceland. 


The petition leads with an appeal from the parents of a six-year-old child who died as a result of E.coli contracted from meat at a fast food outlet. 


Information about UNISON’s campaign can be found at: www.meatinspection.org/diseased-meat


Petition can be signed at: www.change.org/p/don-t-risk-lives-keep-meat-inspections-independent