Porkie Pies aka Lies

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is a non-ministerial body, overseen by the Department of Health and Social Care. Leaks, from workers at an as yet unnamed meat supplier, have revealed that imported pork has been missold as 'British' by that company. British pork, with its higher animal welfare standards, commands a higher price. Even worse, these whistleblowers claim that rotten meat has been mixed in with more palatable pork. Coming to you, in a ready meal, quiche or a sandwich from ASDA, Coop, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons or Tesco! This appears to be the biggest UK food scandal since the horsemeat-for-beef saga. The FSA has been threatened with tightened governmental control. The agency 'might' be brought under the control of the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/30/rotten-pork-sold-in-uk-may-lead-to-tighter-control-of-food-safety-body-fsa). It's difficult to see how such a move would make it anymore likely that the FSA could prevent all food fraud. DEFRA has not recently effectively fulfilled its own current responsibilities. The body has a very poor record in terms of preventing the privatised English water companies releasing raw sewage into rivers and coastal waters. It's also not very effective in terms of preventing the persecution of protected species. DEFRA's record in flood and drought prevention might best be called 'patchy'. It already receives too little money to do its required tasks effectively. The 'threat' appears to be just noise. Another ham sandwich?