UK: Pet food sold for human consumption

A stomach-turning trial has reopened in Hull Crown Court today, with seven people charged with conspiracy to defraud after poultry meat intended for pet food was allegedly sold for human consumption.Undercover surveillance revealed the extent of the operation, which food officials had suspected for some time. "The risk to public health from food poisoning organisms has been unquantifiable," said Prosecutor Ben Nolan QC. He explained: "Once poultry has been condemned it can never lawfully be received back into the human food chain."Newark-based company Wells By-Products Ltd specialised in processing condemned poultry meat for pet food, but bosses Darren Bibby, Andrew Boid and Clive Boid are alleged to have sold large quantities of the meat to Cliff Top Pet Foods in Lincoln, run by Louise and Peter Tantram. Here the product's identity was changed from pet food to normal food. Food brokers Kevin Wilson and Timothy Powell then sold the food onto supermarkets, butchers and food outlets.The operation is alleged to have been executed over a three-year period from 1993 to 1996. Nolan believes that the profits made were enormous and ran into millions of pounds.Kevin Wilson and Timothy Powell are facing further chares of selling sausage meat between 1995 and 1996 that was also unfit for human consumption.Darren Bibby, Andrew and Clive Boid from Worksop, Kevin Wilson of Cleethorpes, Timothy Powell from Hove, and Peter and Louise Tantram deny the charges. The case is expected to last another four months.