The UK’s largest supplier of supermarket chicken meat has been caught tampering with food safety dates.

An investigation by the Guardian and ITV News conducted inside one of the plants of the supplier found that workers within the plant were changing the “kill dates” of the chicken, which could artificially stretch the commercial life of meat products.

Five retailers – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer, Aldi and Lidl – have confirmed that they will be launching an investigation into the activity.

The investigation, which provided video evidence through secret filming in the inside 2 Sisters plant in West Bromwich, confirmed that the practise of tapering with kill dates was carried out on multiple occasions.

What the investigation found

The investigation was conducted over a 12 working day period. It also found: chickens slaughtered on different dates were mixed on the production line; workers altered records of where chickens were slaughtered; chickens that were dropped on the floor of the processing plant were returned to the production line.

'Further proof of Irish standards'

IFA poultry committee chair Nigel Reneghan said that such a revelations highlighted the quality of Irish products.

"Other countries are not adhering to the same standards as we are here in Ireland."

"This is further proof of the quality and traceability of Irish poultry meat."

Who are 2 Sisters Food Group?

The supplier, which is owned by Ranjit Singh Boparan and his wife, Baljinder Kaur Boparan, operates 12 sites in the UK.

The 2 Sisters Food group produces a third of all poultry products eaten in the UK.

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