Two Reading businesses have been fined £6,000 after 172 sheep heads were discovered in a walk-in freezer at their premises.

On April 30, 2024, Environmental Health officers from the Public Protection Partnership visited Jensiama Enterprises Limited, and Kingdom Family Limited, both based at 55 Milford Road, Reading.

During their visit, the officers came across 400kg of illegal meat products in unlabelled black bin bags stored in a warehouse.

These were found to have the possibility to pose serious risk to health.

Alongside the sheep heads, officers found two large bags of smokies cutlets and one small sheep leg joint.

At a hearing at Reading Magistrates Court on Friday 10 May 2024, justices signed the Condemnation of Food Order. The seized products are classed as high-risk, Category 1 food waste and were ordered for destruction. 

Cllr Ruth McEwan, Lead Councillor for Education and Public Health, said: 

“This case again demonstrates the Council’s ongoing commitment to protecting our residents and visitors from dangerous and inexcusable breaches of food hygiene standards and ensuring a level playing field for our legitimate businesses. 

“Whilst the vast majority of food outlets in Reading uphold high standards, the Council takes violations such as this incredibly seriously. I want to thank our officers for their swift and decisive action to seize these food products to prevent them from reaching a customer’s dinner table.”

After seizing 21 large refuge bags of illegal meat products from the warehouse, officers returned on May 22, 2024 where the business voluntarily surrendered a further 23 bags and a large barrel of frozen meat products.

This consisted mainly of offal, a further five sheep heads and some unlabelled meat.  

None of their food products possessed the approved Health or Identification marks, and all were unskinned with the fur remaining.

The sheep heads were found to have large horns and adult teeth and were therefore above the age limit of 12 months.

The businesses were unable to provide any invoices from the suppliers when asked for them by Council officers, despite full ‘farm to fork’ traceability for meat being a legal requirement. 

Cllr McEwan added: “We want to emphasise that enforcement action will be taken where there is no documentation to prove where food has come from. We remain vigilant against potentially unsafe food and all food businesses must be able to provide a clear audit trail of where produce has come from.”