Posted by Hari on Friday, November 28, 2014 with No comments | Labels: budget cuts, public sector, regulation, retailers, supermarkets, the government
Fee explains the real story to KJ...
The bug is responsible for an estimated 280,000 cases of
food poisoning each year and as many as 100 deaths. The study revealed that Asda was the worst
performer, with a contamination rate of 78 per cent. More than one in ten of
its packs – 12 per cent – carried the potentially lethal bug on the outside. The
second highest contamination rate was for a group of smaller retailers
including independent butchers and budget chains like Lidl, Aldi, Iceland and
Budgens with a contamination rate of 76 per cent. The Co-op came next followed
by Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Tesco. Earlier
this year, retailers mounted a fierce lobbying campaign against the FSA survey.
Specifically, they wanted to block the naming and shaming of stores because of
the risk to sales and profits. Initially, they were successful after winning
over ministers and officials in the Department of Health, DEFRA and even the
Prime Minister’s office. However the FSA decided to publicly shame the stores
following pressure from consumer groups, academics and the public. Critics have
argued that the FSA and the Government have failed to ensure supermarkets sell
safe food – with the commercial interests of stores, processors and farmers
given greater priority than consumers’ health. The illness associated with the
bug has enormous economic costs in terms of lost days at work and NHS
treatment. Some estimates put this bill at £900million a year.
OUR RELATED STORIES:
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.