A FACTORY worker has been jailed after he admitted to tampering with food products used in high street restaurants including Nando’s and The Ivy Collection restaurants.

Garry Jones, 38, worked for Harvey & Brockless Fine Food Company, a manufacturing firm based in Evesham that produces large quantities of items for restaurants across the country.

Jones had earlier pleaded guilty to contaminating goods that are supplied to restaurants owned by The Ivy Group – which has a restaurant in Marlow and Chalfont St Giles - and also hummus served at Nando’s – which has multiple restaurants across Buckinghamshire including Aylesbury and High Wycombe.

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In his role as a ‘picker’ at the factory, Jones would collect all of the required ingredients for the next day’s cooking.

However, CCTV cameras revealed Jones was deliberately tampering with tubs of hummus and salad dressings.

Harvey & Brockless were first informed from October 2022 that dozens of their products had been contaminated with items including rubber gloves, plastic bags and metal ring pulls.

Jones raised further alarm when footage showed him mixing an unknown substance into raw ingredients that were to be prepared for production the following day.

He was arrested on November 10 last yet and later admitted during his police interview to combining fish sauce with soy sauce on one occasion.

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A Nando's spokesman said no contaminated products were consumed by customers.  

Speaking to the CPS news site, Mehree Kamranfar, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS West Midlands, said: “This was an extremely disturbing case that could have had far-reaching implications had the defendant not been caught.

“Jones knowingly and maliciously contaminated food products that were going to be distributed to some of the most popular high street restaurants across the country.

“The cross-contamination caused alarm both within the company and externally, as Jones’s utter disregard, particularly in mixing fish sauce with raw ingredients, could have threatened serious harm to those with allergies.

“In addition, sabotaging the food products supplied by Harvey & Brockless not only cost the firm thousands of pounds, it also threatened to destroy the company’s reputation.

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“When faced with the overwhelming evidence presented by the prosecution team Jones pleaded guilty to both charges. I want to thank West Midlands Police and the prosecution team for building the strongest possible case, which saw him convicted and today sentenced.”

Jones was sentenced on Tuesday (October 3) to 42 months imprisonment following a hearing at Worcester Crown Court.