The traditional British banger and the EU’s mash-up of food safety regulations

With the drop in the EU’s food safety rules, are their claims to protect us just porky pies?

Forget chlorinated chicken, new EU rules mean feeding us "abscesses, pus and TB material"

Every year around eight million pigs are slaughtered for meat in the UK. The UK also imports pork meat from other EU countries. Meat from pigs' heads is recovered by specialised boning plants and goes into pies, sausages and other processed foods. Millions of us consume this meat many times each year.

If the EU wants to portray itself as a responsible regulator of food safety standards, it might be thought that they would be strengthening food safety regulations in order to protect the public, not rowing back on them. Not so, according to the European Working Community for Food Inspection and Consumer Protection (EFWFC) which represents the EU's meat inspectors.

“Consumers are being exposed to an “avoidable risk” of disease after a reduction of official controls in food inspections of pig and poultry carcasses across the EU. Diseased meat is being eaten by consumers in the UK and EU, including pus from abscesses and tuberculosis lesions from pigs’ heads.”

- The European Working Community for Food Inspection and Consumer Protection (EFWFC), 15 Sept 2020

The EU has lowered its food safety requirements

The EU introduced new measures for checking pigs entering the food chain. This reduced the requirement for checking pig meat from a thorough inspection to a visual-only inspection, and this was warned about back in 2014.

A visual-only inspection misses underlying diseases. In the words of Ron Spellman, the Deputy Secretary of the European Working Community for Food Inspection and Consumer Protection (EFWFC) which represents EU meat inspectors:-

“Inspectors stopped cutting lymph nodes in pigs’ heads, which are known to contain abscesses and tuberculosis lesions. Under previous systems, the pigs’ head would have been rejected for food, but now the meat is minced to make sausages and meat pies, spreading the pus from the abscesses and TB material throughout these products.”
“I don’t think you can prove it’s safe to feed people abscesses, pus and TB material.”

Mr Spellman is also a member of the UK's Association of Meat Inspectors, and he has been warning about the EU's lowering of food safety standards for many years. In June 2014 Mr Spellman told the BBC: "Last year we know that there were at least 37,000 pigs' heads with abscesses or tuberculosis lesions in lymph nodes in the head. They won't be cut now. There's no way to see those little abscesses, little tuberculosis lesions, without cutting those lymph nodes."

Mr Spelman also speculated on the reasons for the EU's reduction in its food safety requirements: “These changes are motivated not by science or a desire to protect the consumer but are politically motivated to give the meat industry what they want: the reductions and eventual removal of official independent meat inspection.”

The size of the problem

We looked at the Food Standards Agency's (FSA) report from January of this year. Here is what they said about 'foodborne diseases' - what most people would call 'food poisoning':-

“We estimate that there were 2.4 million cases of foodborne disease in the UK in 2018, with 222,000 GP presentations and 16,400 hospital admissions.”
- “Foodborne Disease Estimates for the United Kingdom in 2018”, FSA Report Jan 2020

By any measure this effect on public health from 'foodborne diseases' is highly significant.

So what does the EU Commission have to say about all of this?

The EU Commission's justification for the reduction in meat inspections is that the cutting up of pig carcasses as part of meat inspections increases the risk of harmful bacteria spreading onto meat.

A spokesperson for the European commission said: “The European Union retains some of the highest food safety standards in the world – this is a key priority. This is why the European Food Safety Authority provides expert scientific advice and recommendations while national authorities are responsible to carry out inspections in accordance with the official controls legislation.

“Any meat with lesions indicating an animal disease such as TB, or abscesses, or any pathological or organoleptic changes, must be considered as unfit for human consumption and not be placed on the market.”

The meat inspectors would doubtless agree with these worthy sentiments. However the problem as they see it is that the EU has reduced its safety requirements and ordered visual-only inspections of pigs. As Mr Spellman of the European Working Community for Food Inspection and Consumer Protection says: "There's no way to see those little abscesses, little tuberculosis lesions, without cutting those lymph nodes."

Observations

The EU constantly claims to be the originator of consumers' and workers' rights. British Remainers still to this day make these claims, despite all evidence to the contrary. (See our one-pager on this here.)

In the case of food safety standards above we have shown how yet again the EU claims one thing and does another.

"You are what you eat", as the saying goes. If that is the case then we are now worried about all the barbecued pork sausages we consumed over the summer. And we will never look at a pork pie in quite the same way again.

Help is at hand, and it's called Brexit

Under the disastrous Withdrawal Agreement and its Transition Period, the UK is still bound by the EU's rules on food safety. If we had wished to restore the previous rules where our meat inspectors could do more than a visual inspection of a pig which might be infected, we could not have done so.

From 01 January 2021, however, we can set our own rules. Currently most EU regulations are due to be reimposed as national laws by the UK Parliament, in order to ensure some continuity. We very much hope that most of these will be amended as quickly as possible to reflect the needs and wishes of the British people.

Some of the Facts4EU.Org team are rather partial to a traditional British banger, as well as the odd pork pie, and we look forward to the day when we can once again eat them with relish.

If you have been affected by any of the issues from this report, we have a solution for you. Please donate a little something to us today, so that we may continue fighting for a fully free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom as soon as possible.

In the last five years we have been the most prolific researcher and publisher of Brexit facts in the World. We really do want to see this through to the finish, but we can only do this with help from readers like you because we have no foreign billionaires backing us. Quick and secure donation links are below, and you will receive a warm 'thank you' from a member of our team. Thank you so much.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sat 03 Oct 2020

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Reader Comments 13

1. Sydney Ashurst , Saturday, October 03, 2020, 08:09:

When buying pork meat in the main supermarkets check the labelled source. Do not trust EU animal husbandry. I do not buy any labelled DUTCH.

2. Will, Epping , Saturday, October 03, 2020, 08:43:

Why on earth wasn't the statement from the European animal inspectors reported by the BBC? This is a disgrace.

3. Ashley Great Britain , Saturday, October 03, 2020, 09:22:

If ever you needed an example to buy British,This is it.
The wrong doings and inadequacies of the EU have no bounds.
As if its not bad enough that poor pigs are kept in terrible conditions all their lives.
I try my hardest to buy British free range pork.
Our government must get better at this,And it must start to do so from 1/1/21.
Roll on our great British Brexit.

4. GeorgeP , Saturday, October 03, 2020, 10:01:

There's a reason why the Danish bacon and ham that dominates our supermarket shelves is much cheaper than the equivalent British products.

5. Sydney Ashurst , Saturday, October 03, 2020, 10:33:

Slightly off-topic, but about the EU making or ignoring the rules as they go along.
Many of the Member States are not happy with the EU Covid 19 financial recovery plan. They do not think it is big enough and are arguing over its distribution.
The North-South divergence is toxic for the eurozone’s one-size-fits-all monetary regime. By twist of fate, those countries with the highest debt ratios have suffered the greater economic shock from Covi-d-19, pushing debt dynamics towards the point of no return
Large areas of the eurozone are at risk of debt deflation, a term used by Irving Fisher in the 1930s for when falling price levels cause real debt burdens to deteriorate in a vicious circle. It is extremely hard to break out of such a self-feeding process. It ends in mass default.
“The ECB has already bought 25pc of Italy’s debt and they will have bought half by next year. They will own Italy and they will own Spain. There may be no technical limit but the ECB is not a normal central bank: it is a bank for a confederation of states, so there is a political limit.”
Italy is the biggest recipient, yet net grants will be just €10bn in 2021 and €15bn the following year. It will eschew loans from the fund because they come with troika-like conditions. Portugal has rejected loans as well.
Nor is it clear when the Recovery Fund will see the light of day since Poland and Hungary have threatened to block approval over a "good behaviour" clause, and Finland and The Netherlands may be heading for referenda.

6. Sydney Ashurst , Saturday, October 03, 2020, 10:54:

Does the EU have a level playing field, the simple answer is, it does not, so why all the squawking?
Unaffordable piles of southern member state debt pull down the value of the Euro to the benefit of the north’s exporters, allowing them to dump underpriced goods on the UK market. Technical TARGET2 mechanisms provide unlimited subsidisation for Eurozone producers, and member states never repay the debts that result.
EU banks operate under an EU law system that defies international regulatory standards, providing artificially low-cost financing to Eurozone companies. And by pretending that Eurozone members are sovereign, EU law creates vast unmanaged financial risk, which seeps into the global financial system at the expense of savers and investors.
The UK can protect its economy outside the EU system of law by applying the WTO’s self-help remedies of tariffs and duties, along with international regulatory rules. WTO charges would put Eurozone imports back at their correct pricing levels. Most Eurozone producers would then absorb the expense to protect their market share. New trade deals with other countries will enable the UK to buy the products from elsewhere at competitive world prices. And international regulatory standards provide protection against systemic risk arising from the Eurozone.
Fortunately, there are sovereignty-compliant solutions to all of the problems the EU negotiators throw our way. An invisible North-South Irish border can be addressed by so-called “alternative arrangements”, or by guarantees under a mechanism known as “mutual enforcement”. A level playing field can easily be addressed through WTO-based disciplines.
WTO and not a trade deal is the best in January 2021 for the UK. A clean break leaving a trade deal for later.

7. The Brexit Facts4EU.Org team , Saturday, October 03, 2020, 11:32:

TO ALL READERS
It would be greatly appreciated if you could comment on the article itself. We publish all the time on different subjects and we think that readers would generally like to read comments on the topic about which we have actually published.
Thank you.

8. Mike S , Saturday, October 03, 2020, 13:51:

Would the EU & the Remoaners consider this breaking international law?! Actually knowingly & allowing potentially lethal food products to be consumed by it's citizens! To which earthly court should they be taken to for their criminal behaviours! As said within the article,the potentially high risk of food poisoning from these products is in itself illegal & the EU & it's supporters know full well that they have been breaking the law all too often themselves & all for a fast buck & for a quick profit! It's kind of relevant though,pig/pork products & they already rich & wealthy buddies getting richer with having their snouts in the 'free' cash trough that is continuously topped up by the EU taxpayer! Thankfully,very soon,it won't be coming from us! Well, hopefully anyway!

9. James Bertram , Saturday, October 03, 2020, 15:39:

Buy you pig meat from the Co-op. Avoid Asda, Morrison's and Tesco:
'Leading ethical convenience retailer, the Co-op, has announced that from July all of its own-brand fresh pork, bacon, sausage, gammon and ham will be sourced from 100% outdoor-bred pigs on RSPCA Assured farms....'
https://www.co-operative.co...
-
Try to buy free-range and/or organic, and avoid pig meat from the EU:
https://www.ciwf.org.uk/you...
https://www.ciwf.org.uk/far...
https://www.ciwf.org.uk/our...

10. Voice of reason , Saturday, October 03, 2020, 23:24:

Also, from the sources mentioned as reference in this article, but omitted from this article...
"The European commission based its decision to move away from postmortem inspections on scientific opinion that food-poisoning bacteria including campylobacter are not detected by visual meat inspection, and that carcasses are not more microbiologically contaminated than those not."
Plus the UK's own Food Standards Agency (FSA) which is quite happy with all current safety standards says, "If the FSA was aware of any breaches of these regulations it would be treated very seriously and we would take immediate action in response.”
Instead, we could stoop down to the awful US standards (according to the UK's National Pig Association (NPA)) including:
a) Ending tariff rate quotas, allowing imports of pork produced using ractopamine – a muscle-boosting feed additive banned in many countries
b) Dropping the requirement for trichinae (parasitic roundworm) tests or freezing
c) Permitting “pathogen reduction treatments” such as chlorine washing or meat dosed with antimicrobials
d) Allowing pork imports from USDA-approved plants without equivocation
The NPA fears the US will push for an end to restrictions imposed by the EU that ban pork imports on the grounds of health or welfare concerns.

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