Cane rats and "shocking"
quantities of illegal and "potentially unsafe" meat have been sold to
the public in east London, a BBC London undercover investigation has found.
Secret filming in one of the capital's busiest
food markets has revealed butchers and food stores prepared to sell large
quantities of meat that break food safety laws.
West African and environmental health officer
sources told the BBC the Ridley Road Market, in Dalston, was a known hotbed of
illicit meat activity, including sales of illegal "smokies", a
delicacy made by charring sheep or goat with a blow torch.
Yet a Freedom of Information request to Hackney
Council reveals the last enforcement visits to premises concerning illegal meat
in the whole borough took place in 2009.
"This is
shocking, I am just so shocked to see so much of it," said Paul Povey, one
of the UK's leading experts in meat hygiene and inspections and a member of the
Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, who examined the meat for the BBC.
"It's all illegal and hasn't undergone
health control, hasn't been inspected and may well be contaminated.
"You've got to wonder about the
contamination level of this meat that anyone's bringing into their
kitchens."
Hackney Council said it had only received one
complaint of illegal meat being sold since 2009 which was not proven.
The practice
of creating "smokies" is outlawed under UK and European food laws
amid fears about public safety and animal welfare.
It has also been linked to mafia-style gangs in
Wales who steal sheep and goats, slaughtering them in unlicensed abattoirs.
Dr Yunes Teinaz, a chartered environmental
health practitioner, said: "Behind the underground trade in smokies are
criminals who don't observe the law and are just after financial gain.
"It is disgusting and outrageous that the
local authorities don't take action and remove this meat from the human food
chain."
One Hackney butcher, who was secretly filmed
selling a BBC researcher quantities of the illicit meat, said: "Don't tell
anyone, otherwise there will be trouble."
Two African food stores have sold bush meat
such as "grass cutter" or cane rats, which are described as having
been imported from Ghana where they are a delicacy.
The trade in
bush meat is a persistent problem for the UK authorities with illegal meat
products smuggled in by passengers in ferry terminals and airports.
The Food Standards Agency says there are
worries that bush meat could be of serious risk to both those who eat it and to
others from contamination.
There is no
suggestion that every butcher and food shop on the Ridley Road Market is
prepared to deal in illegal meat.
Confronted with BBC London's evidence, Islam
Halal Meat; Punjab Halal Meat and Fish and Dalston Butchers denied they were
selling illegal meat.
The manager of Great Expectations, a food store
which sold two Ghanaian rats to the undercover BBC researcher, said: "I
don't sell rats, I never sell rats, I don't sell rats.
"I don't have any rats, why you come to
video me?"
The manager of Adom Trading, another shop that
sold bush meat described as a Ghanaian "grass cutter" rat, also denied
selling it.
"What you are saying is a lie, a 100% lie,
I don't sell rats.
"You are collapsing a business, do you
know how much it costs us to pay the business rates?"
Councillor Feryal Demirci, Hackney Council's
Cabinet Member for Safer Neighbourhoods, said: "Hackney Council's team of
Environmental Health Officers make regular visits and inspections of over 1,000
businesses across the borough, including those on Ridley Road.
"Since 2009, we have only received a
single complaint regarding the sale of illegal meat, which upon investigation
was inconclusive.
"However, we take all complaints seriously
and we will always investigate fully. Now that we have received some information
from the BBC we will look into this and take the appropriate action."
Source, BBC News
Source, BBC News
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