Chicken: At What Cost? United Kingdom - 28 Jul 14 Yet another food industry scandal has erupted. Recent reports have revealed that two thirds of chicken meat in the UK is contaminated with a bacteria called campylobacter, which is responsible for over 280,000 cases of food poisoning each year and an estimated 100 deaths. Yet again we are forced to confront the perils of our intensive food production systems which place the drive to maximize profit above all other concerns. The horsemeat scandal which hit the headlines last year made us think twice about the trust we place in large-scale food corporations when we consume their products. Irresponsibility is endemic to the food industry, which cuts corners to generate profit at the expense of proper hygiene regulation, animal welfare and human health. We evidently need to reconsider the impact of the low costs that we are paying for meat products. What is wrong with this food production system? Despite concerted efforts on the behalf of the Food Standards Agency to enforce stricter hygiene regulations on the food industry, the problem of contaminated meat is getting steadily worse. The meat industries are consistently failing to comply with food regulations, putting our health at great risk. Part of the problem is the demand from supermarkets for ever lower prices, which is forcing the suppliers to cut corners in their efforts to generate profit. This fast-paced food production system is locked into the drive for maximum efficiency. Pausing operations to clean and repair machinery means loss of profit, and with such tight profit margins to play around with, hygiene takes a back seat. The focus is on quantity and meeting demand, not on quality. Another issue, exemplified by this latest scandal, is that the vast majority of meat production in the UK is dominated by only a few businesses. Several supermarkets and food chains also monopolize the retail market. With this much power concentrated in the hands of so few, there is little holding them to account. Even the FSA, which recently declared that it would “name and shame” those supermarkets and businesses stocking chicken with high levels of campylobacter by publicly releasing statistics, has been forced to back down by the producers and retailers involved. This is a systemic problem, in which traceability and accountability are becoming impossible.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 23:19:59 +0000
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