Illegal meat sellers fined after sheep heads seized

Meat products were seized by environmental health officers from the public protection service at Reading Borough Council.

Two businesses have been ordered to pay more than £6,000 after illegal meat products were discovered and seized.

Jensiama Enterprise Limited and Kingdom Family Limited, both in Reading, were visited by the council's environmental health officers.

During the visit, about 400kg (900lb) of illegal meat products were found, including 172 sheep heads, two large bags of smokies cutlets, one sheep leg joint and offal.

Ruth McEwan, lead councillor for education and public health, said: “The council takes violations such as this incredibly seriously.”

Warning: This story contains graphic images that some readers may find upsetting.

None of the food products were found to possess the approved health or identification marks, and all were unskinned with the fur remaining.

Officers also discovered a number of the sheep heads were scorched, and several had large horns and adult teeth, indicating they were above the age limit of 12 months.

Both businesses were unable to provide any invoices from the suppliers when asked for them by council officers, despite the full farm-to-fork traceability for meat being a legal requirement.

Among the items discovered were 172 sheep heads and offal

Meat products were kept in unlabelled black bin bags, stored in a walk-in freezer in the warehouse.

In total, 21 large refuse bags of illegal meat products were seized from both premises.

The businesses voluntarily surrendered a further 23 bags which consisted of offal, a further five sheep heads and more unlabelled meat.

Everything was sent for destruction by an approved animal waste disposal company.

Ms McEwan said: “This case again demonstrates the council’s ongoing commitment to protecting our residents and visitors from dangerous and inexcusable breaches of food hygiene standards, and ensuring a level playing field for our legitimate businesses.”