Meat firm fined over food safety

'Risk material' was not removed from slaughtered cattle

A leading meat company has been fined for failing to remove "risk material" from the carcasses of two cattle.

Scotch Premier Meat Limited was ordered by Aberdeen Sheriff Court to pay £1,800 after pleading guilty to breaching food safety regulations.

The firm, based in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, failed to ensure part of the spinal cord and part of the spleen was removed from the cattle.

The offences happened in January and March last year.

Potential diseases

Both failures were spotted by hygiene inspectors at the site and the company, which has been in operation since 1943, was reported to the procurator fiscal.

At Aberdeen Sheriff Court, Scotch Premier Meat pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) (Scotland) Regulations 2002.

Fiscal depute Zoe McDonnell said the regulations were to prevent the spread of potential diseases which could be passed on to humans, including Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD).

Defence solicitor Gail Goodfellow told the court the company had not previously breached any major regulations and had a long history of good standards.

The company has taken the matter very seriously Gail Goodfellow Defence solicitor

She added that from May 2006 spleen was no longer recognised as risk material, but conceded that there had been a breach in March that year.

Ms Goodfellow said the offences were as a result of "human error".

She added that only very small parts of the spleen and spinal cord had been left on the carcasses and they had both been noticed by inspectors so there was no chance of the meat being issued for human consumption.

"The company has taken the matter very seriously," she added.

Sheriff James Tierney said: "The purpose of these regulations is to protect the food chain for the benefit of the consumer."

He added that it was also to protect the UK beef industry from the "horrible diseases" that could be brought about through eating meat tainted with spinal cord or other organs.

The sheriff said he had taken the company's previous "exemplary" record into account when deciding a suitable fine.