Unfit meat trader jailed

The case of Michael Bloomfield, a Norfolk farmer, was described on Friday night as one of the worst of its kind.

A raid on his premises at Bungalow Farm, Tibenham, Norfolk, found grossly overweight pigs, rotting chicken carcasses, rat-infested and fly-ridden meat.

Bloomfield, 55, was jailed for six months after admitting three offences of selling and two of possessing food not complying with food safety regulations.

He also pleaded guilty to three breaches of hygiene in food preparation.

Judge Simon Barham said the Bungalow Farm premises had been "wholly insanitary, squalid and in an appalling state, with a total lack of hygiene".

The court heard that Bloomfield had traded in meat as "Farm Fresh and Frozen".

He supplied restaurants and hotels throughout the east of England as well as selling direct to the public from a trailer at Norwich Livestock Market and Kings Lynn Livestock Market.

After the trial Sue Nixon, senior environmental health officer for South Norfolk Council, said the sentence would be a good deterent.

She told the BBC she was appalled by the conditions at Bungalow Farm shown on a police video, shot when the premises were raided in Autumn last year.

'Grossly overweight'

"The pigs are grossly overweight. It is not a happy pig," she said.

"They are fed on an intensive diet of animal protein, chicken carcasses."

Bloomfield's son Darren Bloomfield, 37, was sentenced to 100 hours community punishment after admitting one offence of selling food not complying with regulations and one breach of food hygiene rules.

Bloomfield and his son have also been banned indefinitely from managing a food business.