Nearly two-thirds of meat cutting plants in the UK were in breach of safety rules, according to analysis carried out by the Guardian newspaper and Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

The research was based on figures from the UK Food Safety Agency (FSA) and showed that over half of the cutting plants that were audited had at least one "major" breach over the last three years.

It follows a series of meat-related investigations by the FSA and the collapse of Russell Hume after labelling allegations.

Food Safety Authority

“We carry out thousands of audits and unannounced inspections of meat plants each year to verify the food hygiene standards are being met,” a spokesperson for the FSA stated.

“Each audit assesses almost 50 different hygiene criteria and a single issue can result in multiple major and minor non-compliances being recorded.

“Only 2% of plants were found to have more than two major non-compliances and the majority had none at all.

“Where major non-compliances are found, follow up audits and unannounced inspections will increase to ensure the issues found have been resolved.”

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