FOOD crime is being tackled in Warwickshire.
A new online assessment tool to help protect businesses from food crime has been launched by the Food Standards Agency, supported by Warwickshire County Council’s Trading Standards.
Council spokesman Mark Ryder described food crime as the use of stolen food in the supply chain to unlawful slaughter, adulteration and food substitution.
He added: “Criminality of this nature can have a detrimental effect upon consumer health and threatens the UK food industry’s reputation for excellence, which in turn could have damaging economic consequences for legitimate businesses.
“This new tool will help Warwickshire food businesses identify the risks to their business from food crime, and outline steps that they can take to mitigate this.
“In doing so they will be helping to protect the health of consumers, and strengthen the UK food industry’s reputation for safe, authentic and high-quality products.”
“I urge all food businesses to visit our website for a link to the food fraud resilience self-assessment tool.”
The self-assessment tool covers different areas businesses will need to be aware of so that they can better identify and address process issues.
The tool is made up of seven sections and provides advice for countering food fraud and will help companies to evaluate and identify areas for improvement.
The assessment can be completed anonymously, and should take around 15 minutes to use.
Click here for more information.
