Dr Yunes Teinaz is a hero of our times. He flatly refuses to be intimidated by the dirty meat merchants who have the muscle and power to intimidate those who oppose their dangerous crimes. If only there were more of him.
June 10 2007 ~ "The Observer has learnt from one senior trading standards officer that poultry smuggled in from Egypt, where avian flu was confirmed last year, is on sale at markets across London.
Dr Yunes Teinaz, acting environmental health manager for the London borough of Hackney, said much of the trade was carried out by criminal gangs: 'It's a very big black-market industry with highly lucrative rewards. You just need £400 to buy an old van and you can go around the country distributing illegal meat.'..."
June 2007 Article on the illegal meat trade by Aura Sabadus
In a thriving consumer society, food has become no less fashionable than the latest must-have cars or the clothes we choose to wear.
But like many other products on the shelves, the juicy chicken looking tempting on our dinner plates or the burgers wedged inside freshly baked rolls may have a history that is often linked to the murky world of international trafficking, animal cruelty, black magic and even cannibalism.
Every year hundreds of tonnes of decomposing meat stored in illegal slaughter houses across the country are believed to enter the food chain, exposing consumers to serious public health hazards that can often lead to animal and human diseases such as E-coli, BSE, Foot-and-Mouth or Bird Flu.
The problem is further compounded by the smuggling of "dirty bush meat" - rats, insects, giraffes, gorillas, chimpanzees, elephants killed in various African countries or the Far East and then channelled onto underground markets in Europe, including Britain, for human consumption.
At £1bn a year, the sale of illegal meat whether locally produced or imported is considered one of the largest illegal trades in the UK, according to environmental health experts. But despite existing evidence from Customs and Excise who confirm that seizures continue to increase year by year, there are too few resources and too few staff to gauge the trade's true scale and to stamp it out. Figures provided by Customs and Excise show an upward trend, with the number of seizures increasing from 15,316 in 2003/04 to 25,286 in 2004/05 and finally to 32,703 last year.
Much of the meat is smuggled in via the 140million tonnes of freight that pass through Britain's ports and airports every year to be then sold in markets or takeaways across the country. Most of it is destined for London's ethnic population, but health experts say even counties like Norfolk or Suffolk may not be safe from the illegal trade. At Felixstowe, Suffolk, consignments of bush meat were discovered over the last years. In 2001, it was revealed that over 100 cartons of meat mixed with cereals, noodles, and other non-meat products arrived in the port from China - which had been hit by numerous outbreaks of foot and mouth in recent times.
In Norfolk the National Farmers' Union is concerned at the illegal meat trade. Brian Finnerty speaking for the Union said infected meat can often end up in the animal food chain leading to outbreaks of Foot and Mouth or other diseases.
"The fact that illegal meat imports are still coming in is something that we feel strongly about. The year before the outbreak of foot and mouth, we had swine fever in Suffolk which had been traced to infected meat. That was very worrying for our farmers. The Government got better at raising awareness, but this is a matter we simply can't be complacent about," he says.
Dr Yunes Teinaz, the head of environmental health in Hackney, East London and adviser to the director-general of the Islamic Cultural Centre in London believes the intelligence he gets on the traffic of dirty meat is only the "tip of the iceberg."
A big man, who has a £100,000 bounty on his head because of his relentless attacks on criminal gangs, Dr Teinaz says the trade is highly sought after because the trafficked products are either wanted for human consumption or used by "witch-doctors" who sell them as "miraculous" remedies for incurable diseases at extortionate rates.
"I want to raise awareness about this trade which seems to have wide ramifications throughout the country. It's worth more than £1bn a year and it depends on cruel methods being used to catch the animals, as well as unsatisfactory methods of storage," he says.
"In Britain, there is the sale of "smokies," decomposing meat often blowtorched and resold as fit for human consumption. There was much disquiet over several similar cases in Carmarthenshire, Wales, where a few farmers were found red-handed and fined.
"In two separate cases in 2003, I found 150 carcasses on each occasion, produced as 'smokies' in Wales. The meat then ends up in mince pies, kebabs or burgers all over the country."
The acting head of environmental health in Hackney, East London, is equally concerned at the trade in bush meat whose hidden nature gives enforcement agencies major headaches.
"Methods of importing illegal food into the UK are becoming increasingly sophisticated," he says. "Preparation of bush meat is often carried out in filthy, unhygienic and shabby premises by people with little understanding of health risks. The potential of harm is very serious indeed. International bodies cite reports of people being infected by such serious diseases as HIV and Ebola virus as a result of hunting, butchering or eating bush meat animals such as monkeys, cane rats, giraffes," he said.
Dr Teinaz says that given the existing legal framework, enforcement agencies face an uphill struggle whenever trying to prosecute those who are in breach of the law.
In one high-profile case in 2003, an African woman received a prison sentence at London's Haringey Magistrates' of three months together with a life ban. She was convicted of 23 charges, including breaches of the Food Safety Regulations and for selling food that was unfit for human consumption. However, the prosecution was not brought for selling bush meat per se, but because of the filthy conditions in which the food was stored.
He adds: "The law has no teeth. People receive very mild sentences and it's easy for them to slip through the net."
Most terrifyingly, Dr Teinaz says, is recent intelligence he has received regarding the discovery of human body parts sold for consumption on the black market.
"I haven't found anything myself, but if this is true, and it could well be that this is the case, then that's terrifying news.
"We know that much of the bush meat trade is used in potions and ointments for black magic treatments and we know that other animals are sacrificed for voodoo purposes in the African community. But we have a deep concern over human body parts. We think they could be coming in with the bush meat."
The illegal trade is also taken seriously by leading microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington, who advised the Government at the height of the BSE and Bird Flu crises.
"The trade in illegal meat is definitely an issue worth jumping on," he says.
"Consumers are exposed to some health risks that they are not used to. The trade involves some products that are not subject to any proper checks and there is the important issue of detecting the products as well as finding the right evidence to stand the cases up in court."
Last night, Sophie Leney, assistant head of the county's Trading Standards Agency tried to allay fears, claiming the trade was not a "big issue" in Norfolk. She insisted the body was involved in carrying out traceability checks on meat products whose origins may not be clearly stated on labels.
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs explained: "We continue to recognise that we can only tackle the illegal imports with a combined effort across all relevant government departments and enforcement agencies and by raising public awareness and understanding the risks."
But speaking from London, Dr Teinaz is not convinced.
"Unless there are more environmental health officers to enforce the law and to produce a co-ordinated approach to tackling food crime, Britain will remain exposed to all sorts of diseases and the Government could be accused of indirectly allowing this to happen," he concluded.
For more information on meat crimes check www.warmwell.com
April 2007 ~ there is now a greater risk of contracting and spreading a food borne illness locally, regionally, and even globally. Food poisoning problem requires action by food producers and distributors as well as by consumers, from the farm to the folk.
Read "Food Poisoning Facts - by Dr Yunes Teinaz, Acting Head of Environmental Health London Borough of Hackney
Food contamination may occur as food travels through long industrial chains; production and harvest, initial processing and packing, distribution, and final processing. ..." Read in full
April 18 2007 ~ Crown Court Rejects Appeal against Sentence for Selling Unfit Meat
On Monday 16 April 2007 Snaresbrook Crown Court Judge dismissed the application by Mr Qurbain Hussain, owner of Gangal Ridley Halal Butchers to appeal against his sentence for selling unfit meat. Mr Hussain was found guilty of four offences at Thames Magistrates Court on the 15th January. The offences related to the sale of meat unfit for human consumption under the Food Safety Act 1990.
Mr Hussain who was arrested at an airport last year after failing to appear at the Thames Magistrate Court did not appear and the Appellant applied for an adjournment. The application was refused. The Judge then went on to hear the facts and submissions. The Judge dismissed the application to appeal the sentence and ordered the original sentence to remain, which was a £900 fine for each offence and costs of £4,000 (a total of £7,600). The judge also ordered the Appellant to pay £540 for the costs of the appeal assessment.
Councillor Alan Laing, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods said: ''The Hackney Environmental Health team will continue to be very proactive, in order to protect public health and ensure unfit meat is not sold in this borough. The council will take legal action against anyone selling sub standard food, or preparing food in an unsafe environment."April 6 2007 ~ "Offending restaurants don't train their staff to meet health and hygiene standards. They often buy and serve condemned meat because it's cheap. And it's cheap because it hasn't been through public health controls"
Dr Teinaz's interview at www.londragazete.com is well worth reading in full. "He'd rather play nicely, but he's prepared to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty if proprietors don't cooperate."
"....Of course, for every failing restaurant there are many more who follow the regulations to the letter and honour the very spirit of the laws. "There are many kebab houses that follow the rules, that are very hygienic, and I must congratulate them," says Dr Teinaz. "If the kebab is nice, the meat is healthy and has passed health controls, if it's bought from a reputable supplier and there's less salt in it for a healthy choice; if the restaurant is clean and hygienic, there will be more customers to make everybody happy and proud," he says."March 30 2007 Dr Yunes Teinaz interviewed by Islam Channel
The report went out yesterday at 5.30pm and was repeated at 9.30 pm as part of the news on Islam Channel, Sky Channel 813. You can watch it on the internet for the next 5 days. The website address is www.islamchannel.tv/news (click on 29 March ).
March 19 2007 ~ "As public concern about cruelty to farm animals grows, there has been a huge surge in demand for such eggs, which can cost as much as 80p a dozen more than battery hen products." Daelnet.uk
The free-range egg swindle, said to have covered about two percent of free range egg sales in Britain, is reported on today by, among others, the Daily Telegraph, Farmer's Weekly Interactive, Reuters and the Guardian. The scandal raises even more questions about accurate labelling - and proper checks. But the fraud emphasises UK consumers' increasing reluctance to buy food from factory farms. As Daelnet.uk says, "Such has been the demand that British farmers have been unable to match the increase in production so millions of eggs are being imported from two as yet un-named European countries. ....by selling them as free range, the British egg packers and distributors will have racked up millions in fraudulent profits. There have been similar cases in the past - including prosecutions in Yorkshire several years ago - but nothing on the scale of the current investigation."
Meanwhile, it is determined individuals - such as those in the Hackney Environmental Health Services team - who are doing the real work in trying to stamp out the lucrative illegal meat trade. Such first hand work is dangerous and unpleasant - as are the criminals against whom they are fighting. (The descriptions and photos involved are not for the faint hearted.)UK Dirty Meat Scandal
The billion pound dirty meat scandal. Watch "Watchdog" (Courtesy of BBC1 via the ICC website)
http://icclondon.org/videos/health/watchdog/low_joined/ (low quality for slow connections)http://icclondon.org/videos/health/watchdog/med_joined/ (medium)
http://icclondon.org/videos/health/watchdog/hig_joined/ (high quality)
You may need Shockwave to view the film
January 15 2007 ~ Despite committing these offences over two years ago it has taken until this week to obtain a conviction
December 7 2006 ~ battery eggs sold as free range, intensively farmed food sold as organic, low quality produce sold as premium....
The FSA has begun a major investigation into food fraud in Britain. The Times reports, ".... In an interim report for today's agency board meeting, Dr Barlow also suggests that the fraudsters were willing to take risks because of the low chance of detection and some confusion over the roles of various enforcement agencies.
There is particular concern that criminals operating on a national scale may be escaping detection and prosecution because of the piecemeal approach by local authorities.
Dr Barlow's task force is to complete a final report by next summer. Its early findings coincide with a number of investigations into suspect dealings in the food industry.
Inspectors at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have announced that they are investigating a massive scam over low-price, battery-cage eggs that are being sold as premium grade, free-range eggs.
The FSA is also conducting surveys into the extent to which farmed fish is passed off as wild; meat from conventional farming is sold as organic; low-quality beef is sold under the Aberdeen Angus label; ordinary chickens are sold as corn-fed; and whether fruit juices are really "pure".""18.5 per cent rise in the number of seizures of illegal meat smuggled from the 15 countries that are classed as 'high risk' of animal-borne disease.... a nightmare scenario in which Ebola finds its way into our food chain
Observer "....Dr Yunes Teinaz is a dead man walking, at least that's what his enemies say. Teinaz, a big man with a big mouth, has a £100,000 bounty on his head thanks to his outspoken attacks on criminal gangs. But the gangs who Teinaz, Chartered Environmental Health Practitioner, an adviser to the Director General of the Islamic Cultural Centre, has fallen foul of are not involved in prostitution, drugs or guns: they sell meat. Illegally. ...
....'For some time, our concern has been that nobody has done a theoretical examination of the risks to public health. But if it could happen we need to know. The consequences would be enormous,' Morris added.
Figures to be published this month, as part of the HM Revenue & Customs' annual review into the illicit trade in smuggled produce, will show an 18.5 per cent rise in the number of seizures of illegal meat smuggled from the 15 countries that are classed as 'high risk' of animal-borne disease. ..." Read in full two recent Observer articlesJuly 16 2005 ~ Some progress: "... if meat is unfit for human consumption, it cannot be considered halal, irrespective of whether it derived from a halal slaughtered animal."
Shaheen Zar of the Meat Fraud and Diversity Branch Enforcement Division of the Food Standards Agency, has now written to Jane Downes, the Veterinary and Technical Director at the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) concerning the points raised in the letter from Dr Ahmed Al Dubayan and Dr Yunes Teinaz of the Islamic Cultural Centre. In the letter to the MHS, Shaheen Zar says:
"....The ICC letter has confirmed the collective opinion of the Muslim Organisations Working Group. It states that it is not an Islamic requirement for halal slaughtered animals to leave the slaughterhouse un-chilled....meat transported in un-refrigerated vehicles is at a far greater risk of arriving in a state that is not fit for human consumption.....if meat is unfit for human consumption, it cannot be considered halal, irrespective of whether it derived from a halal slaughtered animal. I would be grateful if this advice could be forwarded to all licensed premises, as well as including it as an item in the next MHS newsletter as it appears to be a common misconception that hot meat is an Islamic requirement.
See entry for 16 June
It would also be helpful to receive a progress note in due course in order to inform the Working Group."March 28 ~ April 3 2005 ~ "...hundreds of carcases of illegal meat enter the human food chain without any action"
Diseased meat, illegally slaughtered in the vilest of conditions, is getting into the human food chain.
Carcases can be bought from the criminals who - with good reasons - laugh all the way to the bank at the government's " wide-ranging action plan to tackle meat crime". They know that neither local authorities nor the Food Standards Agency has the time, inclination or expertise to stop them - and that even if they do end up in the dock it will cause just a brief and inexpensive hiatus to their activities. Agencies getting government money to check on safety and hygiene are simply not doing so - and the FSA says that to introduce a new law against a newly defined offence would "breach European Community law".
Watchdog on BBC television, Tuesday 29 March at 7 pm is going to shock and disturb viewers.
for the email received from the one man in the country who is fighting the meat criminals on behalf of the people of London, Dr Yunes Teinaz, see belowJanuary 16 - 22 2005 ~ Food Standards Agency says it would be a breach of EU law to create a new offence against the £1bn a year criminal meat trade
In answer to the important Parliamentary Question from Charles Hendry on January 12th 2005 "... what punishments may be imposed upon those found guilty of selling or trading in dirty, diseased and illegal cuts of meat..?", Miss Melanie Johnson said that the
".. Food Standards Agency has, with its partners in other Government Departments and enforcement bodies, a wide-ranging action plan to tackle meat crime."(See below)
Important professional and trade associations, such the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) and the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS) have called for new legislation to deal with serious food crime. Among others sceptical of the "action-plan" is Dr Yunes Teinaz, whose response is important. However, the Food Standards Agency has resisted, arguing that to introduce a new offence would "breach European Community law". The Meat Hygiene service which is an executive Agency of the Food Standards Agency cannot be regarded as above suspicion, while what we saw in last September's Dispatches programme suggests that corruption and collusion can be found in very high places, that agencies get government money to check on safety and hygiene but do not do so. How many of the stakeholders being consulted by the FSA have, as their first priority, the health of the nation - rather than that of their pockets or their careers ?December 13 2004 ~" JULIAN JONES smelt strongly of rotten meat. His clothing was dirty and stained, as well as his hands which were bloodstained. .."
The largest "smokies" criminal meat case came to a conclusion on Monday at Wood Green Crown Court. Two years of painstaking and heroic work by Dr Yunes Teinaz, showing cast iron evidence of guilt, cruelty and disregard for public safety - work that was carried out in the face of actual death threats and intimidation and on behalf of the public health of the entire country, formed the prosecution. The result? Fines and community service for Julian Jones and James Elliott.
From the evidence: "...Some livers showed signs of parasitic cysts. The lungs had lesions consisted with parasitic pronchopneumonia. The udders of lactating female animals had not been removed from the carcasses. The kidneys also remained attached to the carcasses without having been removed from their covering membranes. ..the carcasses were in a warm condition. There was a noticeable foul smell when the door was first opened. There were no health marks or evidence of inspection on the carcasses. ..."
There is a stench of corruption here. Meat criminals are rich, dangerous and influential.
The most absurd regulations and red tape in the name of food safety are putting good farmers out of business - but when it comes to the real criminals, the government loses its nerve...indeed, DEFRA just days before the latest of his convictions for meat crimes last June, chose to use Carmelo Gale as a "consultant".
"I've seized many carcasses contaminated by faeces, brain and spinal matter, as well as a variety of potentially- fatal bacteria. Some have also been covered in cysts and riddled with disease......After a long battle against these criminals I feel that nothing happens to them; they are still in business poisoning the nation every day and no one is taking any action...I will do what I can to protect the public despite difficulties which I am facing." Dr Yunes Teinaz..
The "Dirty Meat" Despatches programme, shown on Channel 4, showed only the tip of the iceberg.
In spite of reassuring words from the government and the FSA, - no action is actually taken to stop the rotten trade except by the heroic few such as Dr Teinaz. Although professional and trade associations have called for new legislation to deal with serious food crime, the Food Standards Agency has resisted, arguing that to introduce a new offence would "breach European Community law."
Thanks to Dr Yunes Teinaz and other researchers who have shared their knowledge with warmwell, we can at least put some information onto the internet for all to see. This sort of task should not be up to us - but where are those who should be giving substantial help to Dr Teinaz with new legislation aimed at the real criminals? The Meat Trade in its criminal form is sinister, powerful and deeply feared - and widespread. Who will protect consumers from diseased meat and the animals from barbarous slaughter?
I have managed successfully to arrange the purchase of smokies from Southwark and Brixton in Lambeth for the Watchdog programme, going on air Tuesday 29 March @7 pm.
It is alarming when hundreds of carcases of illegal meat enter the human food chain without any action from the local authorities or the FSA.!
I am sure that the viewers of the programme will find the footage disturbing. This is an issue affecting the health of the entire nation.
The same criminals still in business; nothing happens to them !Very best wishes
Yunes