The head of 2 Sisters Group has apologised for the food safety scandal engulfing the company after being grilled by MPs over food safety failings.
Ranjit Singh Boparan, the chief executive of 2 Sisters Food Group, appeared before MPs to answer allegations of food safety failings at one of his chicken plants.
He insisted he is “absolutely committed to improving food safety”, after an undercover investigation revealed hygiene breaches at a West Bromwich plant.
It follows an investigation that allegedly revealed a string of health and safety breaches, including chicken being picked up off the floor and returned to the production line.
At the inquiry on Wednesday (25 October), panel member Paul Flynn MP asked Mr Boparan why his company had ‘low standards’. Mr Boparan denied it.
He told MPs: “I don’t understand [that] we have low standards. We do not have low standards.
“We’ve high standards with our farmers, high standards with our suppliers and high standards with our staff.”
Neil Parish, the chairman of the committee, said he would accept Mr Boparan’s apology and his promise to improve standards.
Mr Parish added: “What he said today was recorded and is on the record. I accept his word that he will improve and put things right. But God help him if he’s got to come here again and he hasn’t put it right.”
In a separate session, the committee also heard from BRC Global Standards, which conducts audits at food plants, the British Poultry Council, an industry body, and Assured Food Standards, which promotes and regulates food quality and licenses the Red Tractor quality mark.
They were all accused of being “culpable” for the standards exposed at the plant, as the committee pledged to launch a more thorough parliamentary inquiry into food standards next year.
