Free horsemeat webinar to learn crisis lessons

The webinar – Horsemeat: learning the lessons of an avoidable crisis – will focus on how food businesses can guard against food contamination problems. Reserve your place at this webinar email zvpunry.fgbarf@jeoz.pbz​.

Opportunities​

Staged in association with the business law firm DWF, the webinar will focus on the opportunities of the future, rather than the problems of the past.

Our expert panel of speakers will include Andrew Rhodes, director of operations at the Food Standards Agency (FSA), who will explain what lessons have been learnt from the crisis and what new systems put in place to protect consumers and food businesses from similar contamination crises.

Professor Tony Hines, head of food security and crisis management, at Leatherhead Food Research, will draw on lessons from previous contamination incidents to provide guidelines on how to strengthen weak links in the meat supply chain. Hines will focus on how science and technology can help food businesses safeguard their profits and their reputations.

Act differently​

Hilary Ross, partner with DWF, will explain the current regulatory framework and how companies should act differently in future to protect their businesses.

A key part of the webinar will be a live question and answer session, where you can put your questions directly to our expert panel. Questions can either be submitted in advance here or sent to individual speakers during their presentations or during the live question and answer sessions.

So, to make more sense of the murky history of the horsemeat crisis – such as the convoluted supply chains, including Romanian abattoirs and shadowy handling agents in the Netherlands and Cyprus – and how to protect your business, make a date to attend our free online webinar at 11am on Thursday May 16.

You can register to reserve your place at the webinar, or to email a question in advance to zvpunry.fgbarf@jeoz.pbz​.

Horsemeat: key dates in January and February​

January 16 – Food Safety Authority of Ireland reported burgers with traces of equine DNA. Retailers, including Tesco, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland, withdrew 10M burgers

February 6 – Tesco and Aldi withdrew frozen spaghetti and lasagne meals produced by French food supplier Comigel

February 11 – Tesco dropped big supplier after finding 60% horsemeat in a range of spaghetti Bolognaise meals

February 12 – Police and FSA raided Yorkshire slaughter house and a meat plant in Wales on suspicion they passed off horsemeat as beef for kebabs and burgers

February 22 – Iceland boss Nigel Broadhurst accused horsemeat suppliers are being “lying, cheating, robbing b*****ds”

February 22 – FSA revealed that 99% of nearly 3,600 tests for the presence of horse DNA on processed meat products had proved negative

February 13 – EU farm ministers demanded random DNA testing of processed meat and tests for the presence of the veterinary drug bute

Feburary 25 – City analyst Shore Capital predicted premium retailers would benefit from horsemeat at the expense of value retailers

February 26 – Nestlé ceo Paul Bulcke blamed the horsemeat scandal on “widespread fraud” ​being committed by “a few” ​across Europe at City Food Lecture

February 27 – Tesco promised to buy more British meat and to introduce stringent testing procedures at National Farmers Union conference.