Dr Sue Hornibrook is a member of the Centre for Value Chain Research at Kent Business School. She is a Lecturer in Strategic Management; and Corporate Responsibility, and is Head of Student Placements. She comments on the following news item – Legal Loophole allows banned mechanical meat in UK sausages
Following on from the horsemeat scandal, the provenance and quality of our food is the focus of attention once again. The hidden nature of food quality and safety, where the end consumer cannot tell in advance of purchase or consumption, means that food has always been the subject of fraud and other dubious practices. During Victorian times, and in reaction to public concerns regarding the authenticity, nutritional quality and value of food products, the focus of early legislation in the UK was on the prevention of fraud. Later, regulation turned to the issue of food safety, driven by a series of outbreaks of food poisoning and other diseases that resulted in death and serious health implications for consumers.
This article highlights the impact of differences in local interpretation and implementation of EU food safety and quality legislation within an industry that depends heavily on global supply chains. In a highly competitive international environment, in which suppliers are numerous, where margins are small, and profit depends on volume supply, the temptation to cut costs by some food processors may be just too good an opportunity to miss.
However, the article fails to highlight the different routes to consumers and subsequent implications for consumers. Food suppliers provide processed products not just to supermarkets, but to the foodservice sector, who in turn supply to our public hospitals, prisons, schools and military. Supermarkets are often blamed for squeezing suppliers, but little attention is given to the downward pressures on prices caused by a public sector that is trying to operate within a climate of economic hardship, diminishing public funds, increasing demand, and is therefore driven to constantly seek to reduce costs. Given the even longer length of this particular foodservice supply chain, the vulnerability of the end consumers, and the increased opportunities for dubious practices, this ‘invisible’ food chain needs to become the focus of attention for us all, including the media, regulators and the industry itself.