Better late than never

Following the scandal in 2013 where horsemeat was passed off a beef the UK government commissioned a report whose findings will now lead to a Food Crime Unit especially set up to investigate fraudulent trading in foodstuffs.

At the time of the so called “horse gate scandal” the Chartered Institute of Purchase and Supply reported that almost half of supply chain managers “do not have a means of monitoring their entire supply chain”.

Even more damaging was their comment that “how few chief executives and boards take supply chain issues seriously”.

Initially the effects of the horsemeat scandal were dramatic. In the first two months following the reports of horsemeat being found in ready meals sales of these products were down 5% year-on-year, frozen food sales dropped 13% and there was a fall of 3% in chilled ready meal value sales.

One of today’s buzzwords is “traceability” – it being incumbent on companies to monitor all aspects of their supplier’s performance with failure to do so having far reaching and damaging consequences.

In the eye of the storm it appeared that the days of a “cosy” relationship between Buyer and Supplier, the archetypal nod and a wink would have been consigned to history.

Nobody faced any penalties or sanctions for what was described as the worst scandal in the history of the UK supermarkets.

This new unit operating under the umbrella of the Food Standards’ agency will have the power to ensure that the safety of the UK food supply chain is not compromised.