Food contamination

Supplementary written evidence submitted by ABP Food Group

Thank you for the opportu ni ty to address t h e Env i ronment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee last week . We hope our contribution to the committee’s work was helpful. As we expressed at the time we are hugely concerned at the recent horsemeat issue and its implications, not only for our business, but also for our customers a n d for other stakehol d ers: farmers, retailers, and, especially, consumers.

In this response we address three key issues:

(A) Responses to questions posed by the Committee to which we agreed to respond in writing;

(B) Clarif'ying a potential misunderstanding in the language used in relation to unapproved suppliers; and

(C) A brief update on an issue concerning Dalepak which relates to information that was not available to us at the time of the Select Committee hearing.

(A) Responses to questions posed by the Committee to which we agreed to respond in writing

1. In response to questions from Mr Gardiner's we confirm that:

1.1.1. In the course of the 2012 calendar year McAdam Food Services supplied 172 tonnes of beef, and 111 tonnes of pork to Silvercrest Foods. These figures include 34 tonnes of pork which was not actually delivered until January 2013.

1.1.2. Mr Ray McSharry Jor was employed by AIBP until November 1992.

1.1.3. We do not believe that Mr Eamon Mackie was ever an employee of ABP. However, he was employed by a contractor of ABP until approximately 1986/87.

1.1.4. Mr Jim Fairbairn left the company in July/August 1994.

1.1.5. As we advised the Committee, ABP and Mr Goodman have no relationship with or interest in Comigel.

1 . 1.6 . A s we advised the Committee, Dr Knight has not met with Ministers in either the UK or Ireland in relation to the equine DNA issue .

1.1.7 . Having checked the position, we have confirmed that some traders previously supplying Silvercrest were UK based. As I informed the Committee, we have stopped buying from traders since the equine issue arose.

1 . 1.8. Mr Finbarr McDonell has never authorised or engaged in trading in horse meat.

1.1.9. Frank Zhou Fang has never authorised or engaged in horsemeat. (In fact, Mr Fang's procurement role is directed towards the purchase of equipment and clothing in China, he is not involved in the purchase of meat products by the ABP Group; he is also ABP's Sales Manager in China, responsible for the sale of ABP beef products in China.

2. In response to questions from the Chair we confirm that:

2.1.1. S ome labels on Polish product were in English, others in Polish language. Fo r the avoidance of doubt, we should make clear that none referred to equine in either language.

2.1.2.We said that the staff of the Silvercrest plant were on paid leave. For the sake of completeness, we wish to make clear that the staff were on paid leave but have since been assisting with the testing programme and with the work required to dispose of recalled stock. Key members of the original management team have not been reinstated.

(B) Clarifying a potential misunderstanding in relation to unapproved suppliers

Having read the transcript we feel there is some potential confusion around the issue of approved and unapproved suppliers and we wish to clarify this in relation to specification breaches. As we explained to the Committee , our equine investigation at Silvercrest led us to discover a different issue, the breach of certain customers' contractual specifications . Most beef at Silvercrest was of British or Irish origin, but Silvercrest also imported from other EU members states (and exported finished products across Europe). For example, Polish beef represented around 5% of all the beef used at Silvercrest (although such Beef was within the contractual specification for more than 25% of the products produced at the site). Such product was sourced in good faith from EU approved suppliers, and , but for the (unsuspected) equine issue, its use was perfectly permissible in many products manufactured at Silvercrest. However, some customers had stipulated that their products should only contain meat from particular sources . For example, the use of Polish beef in some products breached the contractual specification . ABP does not tolerate any breaches of contractual specifications. We responded to the discovery by putting in place a new management team at Silvercrest and we disclosed the issue to the customers. As well as appointing new management to Silvercrest, we disbanded the Convenience Foods division in which it was previously incorporated. We also established new reporting lines at plant level and from our Technical and Quality Assurance departments. We reminded employees throughout ABP of our commitment to compliance with all our legal and contractual obligations, and to the quality of our products. We also reviewed our whistleblowing procedures to encourage employees to escalate any issues .

(C) Dalepak update

At the time of the Committee hearing we stated that we were not aware of any equine DNA results above trace levels (1%) from any ABP facility other than Silvercrest. At the time of the hearing this was factually correct but we felt in this response we should inform the committee that this situation has now changed.

In mid-January, as a precautionary measure, Asda withdrew its Frozen Lean Mince (454g) product which had been processed at Dalepak. On March 9th (4 days after the Select Committee hearing) we were informed that whilst a number of tests from this batch had tested negative for equine DNA, one sample of this withdrawn product had in fact tested positive for equine DNA above trace elements (1%).

We have carried out a full traceability exercise on this batch of product and this demonstrates that the beef was sourced from third party suppliers (i . e. not ABP). We are currently carrying out investigations to establish how this incident could have occurred. At Dalepak we have carried out approximately 600 tests since mid-January including samples from this particular day's p roduction of Asda frozen mince and all our results have been negative for equine DNA.

In conclusion, I wish you and the Committee every success with your work. We at ABP take pride in our business and in the reputation which we have developed over many years, serving many leading retailers around the world. We are committed to producing quality products for our customers and consumers. We have never knowingly engaged in the purchase of equine , nor do we process horsemeat at any of our plants . We are concerned that the equine i ssue appears to be the re su lt of a deliberate and sophisticated fraud on the industry and on the consumer, affecting many companies and their products. For our part, we have learnt from recent events and we are dete r mined to take all appropriate steps to prevent any recurrence of such events. We trust that, in time, the reputa t ion of British beef will emerge stronger than ever. We as a company are dete rm ined to do everything necessary to restore confidence in the supply chain and to ensure that consumers can buy beef products with confidence .

Paul Finnerty

Group Chief Executive

March 2013