Issue - meetings

To receive the actions undertaken by Cheshire East Council’s Consumer Protection and Investigations (Trading Standards) Service in response to the discovery of equine DNA in the food chain.

The Committee received a progress report on the actions undertaken by Cheshire East Councils Consumer Protection and Investigations (Trading Standards) Service in response to the nationwide discovery of equine DNA in the food chain.

The Chairman commenced the debate by highlighting that the Committee were aware that this was a food fraud issue and not a public safety issue, however it needed assurance that lessons had been learnt and measures had been taken to stop mislabelling happening again in the future.

The Consumer Protection and Investigations Manager reported that comprehensive inspections were undertaken as a matter of urgency and a number of formal food samples were procured for testing by the public analyst.

With regard to paragraph 10.10 of the report, it was reported that a Cornish pasty containing less than 1% pork was due to cross contamination and not mislabelling.

In total, 16 comprehensive food business inspections had been undertaken and 10 formal food samples analysed. All samples were found to be negative for the presence of equine DNA. The response to this issue had been risk based and intelligence led, involving collaborative working with partners where appropriate.

Generally, ad hoc testing would also be intelligence led as random testing across all premises would be too expensive. However, now that the detection of food fraud had become a high priority, further resources may become available. There was currently a Regulatory Service Food Law Enforcement Plan being drafted, which may need to be amended to reflect any changes in national enforcement priorities.

The Consumer Protection and Investigations Manager reported that the current budget for food sampling was £6,000 which could be topped up from other budgets if required. A proportion of costs incurred to date from this issue would be recovered from the Food Standards Agency.

The Committee then went on to discuss the wider role of the team which included door step crime and e crime, which again was mostly intelligence led. The Chairman highlighted that cyber crime was one of the Police and Crime Commissioners top priorities.

The Senior Enforcement Officer highlighted that many of the traditional Trading Standards offences were now committed in the online environment or are facilitated by digital equipment.  As such, the Cybercrime work the Service was engaged in related to the investigation of such offences and in particular, securing such digital evidence and reproducing it to the satisfaction of the Courts. The Officer added that, as regards the general threat of Cybercrime to East Cheshire stakeholders, this was an area in which he believed the Council as a whole could explore working with the Police and other Partners to provide relevant advice and education.

The Chairman highlighted that the Committee wanted to support the section, particularly as e crime may require a higher profile and questioned whether there were adequate resources in place. The Consumer Protection and Investigations Manager reported that the service was part of the Crime Prevention Panel and were investigating the possibility of establishing a forensic e crime service in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16