A Southall food supplier linked to a national product recall has been ordered to pay almost £47,000 after it was found to have broken food hygiene rules.
Bread Spread Ltd, of Balfour Business Centre in Southall and its director Premalkumar Patel pleaded guilty to 21 counts of serious food hygiene failures at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on 4 March.
The court heard that the company, which distributes sandwiches and other food to supermarkets and corner shops across the UK, repeatedly ignored warnings to raise its hygiene standards and failed to comply with improvement notices from Ealing Council officers.
It also heard evidence that the company had mislabelled sandwiches with the wrong shelf life, and details of a national product recall that was necessary to protect the general public.
The director and the company were each fined £14,000, with both also ordered to pay a £2,000 victim surcharge. The company was ordered to pay £13,835 in prosecution costs. In total, the company and its director and manager will pay a total of £46,827.
Manager Ronak Patel pleaded guilty to two charges and received a fine of £673 for one charge in totality. He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £269, which means he will pay a total of £942.
Risk to vulnerable groups
When good hygiene practices are ignored, ready-to-eat foods present an increased risk of carrying a potentially life-threatening bacterium – listeria monocytogenes. It thrives in these items, as although it can be eliminated by thoroughly cooking or reheating foods, they are usually designed to be eaten straight from the fridge.
The court heard that, during a series of visits in 2024, council officers found that Bread Spread Ltd had poor control of this bacteria.
It usually results in mild infection for healthy adults, with flu-like symptoms or gastroenteritis. However, vulnerable groups – including pregnant women and their unborn babies, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems – face a heightened risk of illnesses such as meningitis or septicaemia. For those groups, it is linked to a 20-30% mortality rate, with 20.6% of reported pregnant cases resulting in miscarriage.
Misleading shelf life
The shelf-life of ready-to-eat foods must be controlled to ensure that bacteria do not grow to unsafe levels prior to the ‘use by’ date. The longer a shelf life is applied to a product, the higher the risk of bacterial growth within it.
Two factors can seriously impact the growth and risk of this harmful bacteria – hygiene practices and the shelf life of ready-to-eat foods.
During an unannounced inspection of its factory in late April 2024, the council’s environmental health officers found that one of Bread Spread Ltd’s sandwiches exceeded the maximum allowed shelf life by one day, raising serious food safety concerns.
Officers also noted that there were a number of hygiene issues at the factory. This included poor cleaning and maintenance of food preparation areas and equipment, inadequate hand washing facilities, and food not effectively protected against contamination. The officers took samples of products and swabs from equipment for analysis.
Life threatening bacteria leads to national recall
On 7 May 2024, the UK Health Security Agency made Ealing Council aware that listeria monocytogenes had been detected in 2 Bread Spread Ltd-produced sandwiches. The bacteria was also present in a swab sample taken from a tomato slicer, even after it had been cleaned and disinfected.
During a visit to the factory the next day, council officers deemed the production of Bread Spread Ltd’s ready-to-eat foods as an imminent risk of injury to health and served it with a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice to immediately stop production of all ready to eat foods. Despite this, a further unannounced visit later in May found the business still producing foods under poor hygiene conditions.
On 11 May, the national Food Standards Agency issued a country-wide recall of all sandwiches and salads produced by Bread Spread Ltd under its brand names Bread Spread, Orbital Foods, and Perfect Bite. The supplier’s poor traceability records caused delays in quickly removing potentially unsafe food from the market.
Swift and coordinated action
Councillor Kamaljit Nagpal, the council’s cabinet member for decent living incomes, said: “Thanks to swift and coordinated action by council officers and our partners at national agencies, this business has been held accountable for the filthy conditions in its factory.
“We will always take the strongest possible action against companies which choose to ignore basic safety rules and put their customers at risk.”
For more information on food safety, visit the council website.
