Supermarkets may have been unwittingly selling rotting meat for several years, it has been claimed, with an alleged rogue supplier now the focus of a criminal investigation. Some of the UK’s leading supermarket chains have been carrying out emergency checks to ensure that products containing meat processed by the company in question are no longer being sold to customers. Ready meals, sandwiches, quiches and other produce sold in some food retailers were reportedly found to contain meat produced by the firm in question, which cannot be named for legal reasons.

Retailers have been “double checking” the factory’s products are no longer on their shelves or in supply chains, according to a report from The Daily Telegraph, citing one industry source.

The factory in question is currently closed and it is though retailers are confident there are no current food safety issues.

Farmers Weekly magazine carried out an investigation alleging “rotting” pork was mixed with fresh meat before it was processed, and frozen meat was sometimes thawed out on the floor of the factory.

Swathes of rotten meat would be sent to schools, hospitals, care homes and prisons, according to one source speaking to the publication.

The investigation from the magazine also alleged “criminal practices” had gone on for “at least two decades” and are thought to have continued beyond 2020.

But with the investigation published by Farmers Weekly on Wednesday, several of the UK’s leading retailers have only just become aware of the allegations of rotten meat in the supply chain.

Last week, police and trading standards officers carried out a raid of the firm’s factory, and three people were arrested.

The arrests in question were connected to the alleged mislabelling of foreign-sourced meat as British produce. The Food Standards Agency has said its National Food Crime Unit is also looking into “potential food hygiene breaches”.

In January 2022, the FSA also alerted retailers and suppliers about the alleged mislabelling of food by supplier to a retailer, both of which haven’t been named.

The impacted retailer immediately removed all relevant products from sale and ended its reading relation with the meat processor.

At the time, the alert said: “there is no conclusive evidence at this stage that any other supply contracts linked to this business, for example to other retailers, have been similarly affected but this has not been ruled out.”

The FSA also advised businesses to increase their “due diligence” and check their cooked meat supply chain.

But Norman Bagley, head of operations at the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers, claimed not all food businesses had been alerted by the FSA, raging some had not been informed about “a possibility of labelling fraud or of a risk to public health”.

Tens of thousands of tonnes of foreign pork per week was allegedly being passed off as British, according to the investigation from Farmers Weekly, while it is claimed ox tongues were not properly heat treated and records were falsified.

Darren Davies, head of the National Food Crime Unit, said: “The FSA’s National Food Crime Unit is carrying out a criminal investigation into how a supplier was allegedly providing products labelled as British when they were in fact sourced from elsewhere.

“This is a complex and live investigation and we are looking into all new lines of enquiry with our partner organisations, including any potential food hygiene breaches at the premises. If any evidence of a food safety risk is found, then necessary action will be taken.”

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