Wholly Cow?
5 Feb 2014
A year has passed since some frozen beef lasagnes were found to have more of an equine flavour to them, and what has the food industry learned since the horsemeat scandal?
Above all it has learned the importance of knowing exactly where ingredients come from and knowing who the companies are that supply those products.
The high profile nature of the horsemeat scandal led to a flurry of activity among politicians and industry trade bodies, with numerous reports all concluding that the key to avoiding food fraud is understanding your supply chain.
However, as the cover feature for Process Engineering’s February issue explains, while a food giant like McDonalds is able to exercise full control over its supply chain and ensure complete visibility of its burgers from pasture to plate, this approach still seems to be the exception rather than the rule.
40% of food manufacturers have never “mapped out” their entire supply chain to find out exactly who their suppliers are
Sure, every producer of beef-based products in the UK will have been rigorously investigating their suppliers over the past 12 months and using techniques such as DNA testing to verify the species of the meat they received.
As a result it is unlikely we will have any more scandals over horse lasagnes for the foreseeable future - although only this week it was revealed horsemeat had been found in samples of beef taken from a Dutch slaughterhouse, showing that the threat of species cross-contamination is still very real.
But the sector’s response to the scandal still seems to be very piecemeal: the food industry is the largest manufacturing sector in the country, so while plenty of best practice guidance has been issued by the likes of the Health and Safety Executive and trade body the Food and Drink Federation, it is questionable what impact all this will have beyond the major players and those stung by the horsemeat scandal.
Indeed, Food risk management specialist Achilles last month published research showing that 40% of food manufacturers have never “mapped out” their entire supply chain to find out exactly who their suppliers are.
Best guidance can count for little against the harsh economic reality of the soaring cost of animal feed that is driving up the cost of meat, versus supermarkets’ ever-present demands for cheap products.
With this tension, something will always have to give: either the quality of the product or the low price. And while that tension exists there will always be people seeking to exploit it.
What the food industry needs is some kind of guarantee of transparency throughout the supply chain, and one that is affordable for even the smallest players. To do this I suspect some combination of technology implementation and regulatory intervention will be necessary.
Otherwise yesterday’s horse lasagne may well end up being tomorrow’s rabbit shepherd’s pie.
