Response to media claims over unfit meat 

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued a statement on its meat inspection process following a media claim that unsafe meat is being sold for human consumption.

The report, published in the Sunday Times on June 30, accused the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) of allowing diseased meat to enter the human food chain.

It reported that around 28,000 cattle are slaughtered for consumption every year, after testing positive for bovine tuberculosis (bTB).

In response to the claims, the FSA has highlighted that its meat hygiene inspectors check all meat before it enters the food chain to make sure it is fit for people to eat.

Where inspection reveals any lesions caused by TB in more than one organ or region of a carcass, the FSA said it is declared unfit for human consumption and destroyed.

The agency added that when a TB lesion has been found in the lymph nodes of only one organ or part of the carcass, that organ or part of the carcass and the associated lymph nodes are removed and destroyed.

"The FSA is confident that the inspection systems in place are robust, otherwise we would not allow this meat into the food chain," read the statement.

In addition the agency commented that, according to the European Food Safety Authority, the risk of caching bTB through eating meat is "negligible" – a view it says is supported by the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food.

Furthermore, it said there is no documented case where a person has caught tuberculosis through eating meat.