Food & drink industry Meat supplier Russell Hume collapses with loss of up to 300 jobs Administration comes weeks after firm halted production due to food standards scare Jamie Oliver’s Italian restaurant chain and Wetherspoon pubs were among Russell Hume’s customers. Photograph: J. Scott Applewhite/AP
More than 260 workers have lost their jobs at the meat supplier Russell Hume, which has collapsed into administration just weeks after production was suspended following a food standards scare.
Administrators announced 266 redundancies on Monday from the 302 employees at the company, which has its headquarters in Derby and operates from six production sites in Liverpool, Birmingham, London, Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire, Exeter and Fife.
It is expected that all the company’s employees will eventually lose their jobs.
Meat products were prevented from leaving the group’s factories last month after Food Standards Agency (FSA) inspectors found “serious non-compliance with food hygiene regulations” during a surprise visit to the Birmingham premises. Jamie Oliver’s Italian restaurant chain and Wetherspoon were among the major restaurants and pub groups that were customers of Russell Hume.
The company’s demise comes after the pork company Fairfax Meadow voluntarily recalled meat products earlier this month after an unannounced inspection revealed issues with use-by date labelling.
Meanwhile, in September, a Guardian and ITV undercover investigation into 2 Sisters Food Group resulted in the country’s largest supplier of supermarket chicken suspending production at its West Bromwich plant for five weeks.
Chris Pole, a partner at KPMG and a Russell Hume administrator, said: “The recent product recall and halt in operations has caused significant customer attrition and trading difficulties, which in turn has led the directors to take the decision to place the company into administration.
“Regrettably, with little prospect of production restarting on site, a total of 266 people have been made redundant. Our priority over the coming days will be to work with all affected employees to provide the assistance they need in claiming monies owed from the redundancy payments office.
“We will also be seeking buyers for the business and its assets.”
The Russell Hume directors said the firm had an unblemished record before the investigation and a number of businesses had experienced “issues” with FSA investigations.
They claimed there was a lack of clarity throughout the industry concerning FSA guidelines.
Earlier this month, the FSA said it was launching a nationwide review of all meat cutting plants in the wake of serious incidents at 2 Sisters and Russell Hume.
The FSA was criticised by a committee of MPs for failing to take “definite action” to improve food standards after the Guardian and ITV investigation last year.
Image copyright Getty Images
A meat supplier being investigated by the Food Standards Agency has fallen into administration with the loss of almost 270 jobs.
KPMG has been appointed as administrators to Derby-based Russell Hume Limited.
Its meat products were recalled last month and chains including Wetherspoon took them off their menus.
The FSA said its investigation concerned Russell Hume's failure to comply with food hygiene regulations.
The firm's directors called the decision to call in administrators "heartbreaking", but said the regulator's action had "created impossible trading conditions for us".
Chris Pole, partner at KPMG and joint administrator, said the recent product recall and halt in operations had resulted in a customer exodus.
Wetherspoon's meat supplier probed over food hygiene
Russell Hume recall 'centres on use-by dates'
As there was little prospect of production restarting, he said a total of 266 people had been made redundant.
"Our priority over the coming days will be to work with all affected employees to provide the assistance they need in claiming monies owed from the Redundancy Payments Office," Mr Pole said.
"We will also be seeking buyers for the business and its assets. Any interested parties are advised to contact us as soon as possible."
Image copyright Getty Images
Russell Hume's directors said they would continue to work with the FSA over the issues it had raised, but added:
"We still feel its action has been out of all proportion to the concerns it says it has identified.
"The fact that its investigations have become industry-wide and a number of other firms have also had issues strongly suggests there is a lack of clarity in the industry and in current FSA guidelines.
"Prior to this, we had a long, unblemished record for supplying quality meat products."
The FSA said its investigation into the company was continuing and that it had taken "proportionate action based on serious and widespread problems".
"We do not take these decisions lightly and we recognise this will be a worrying time for employees and their families," a spokesman said.
"It is for food businesses to ensure the food they produce is safe and our role is to provide assurances that a business is meeting its responsibilities."
Russell Hume supplied meat to a range of hotels, restaurants and pubs across the UK and had six production sites in Liverpool, Birmingham, London, Boroughbridge, Exeter and Fife.
Russell Hume, the meat supplier at the centre of a major meat scandal has gone into administration, blaming food watchdogs for handling the situation badly.
Following a 12-day-long investigation by the Food Standards Agency it was discovered that meat was being labelled with the wrong use-by dates, leading to a number of major restaurants ditching the supplier.
The firm had supplied millions of beef, chicken, pork, lamb and steak cuts to the Wetherspoon pub chain, Jamie Oliver's restaurants, Hilton hotels, Greene King pubs, schools and care homes. But last month it was ordered to stop production by the FSA following the discovery.
Later it emerged that Russell Hume is also facing claims that it sold foreign beef as "British".
But Russell Hume said the FSA's handling of the scandal was to blame for it going into administration, leading to it having to make hundreds of workers redundant.
In a statement Russell Hume's directors said: “Unfortunately, the FSA’s action created impossible trading conditions for us, and after careful reflection we have decided the best thing for the company and its creditors is to put Russell Hume into administration.
Image copyright Getty Images
A meat supplier being investigated by the Food Standards Agency has fallen into administration with the loss of almost 270 jobs.
KPMG has been appointed as administrators to Derby-based Russell Hume Limited.
Its meat products were recalled last month and chains including Wetherspoon took them off their menus.
The FSA said its investigation concerned Russell Hume's failure to comply with food hygiene regulations.
The firm's directors called the decision to call in administrators "heartbreaking", but said the regulator's action had "created impossible trading conditions for us".
Chris Pole, partner at KPMG and joint administrator, said the recent product recall and halt in operations had resulted in a customer exodus.
Wetherspoon's meat supplier probed over food hygiene
Russell Hume recall 'centres on use-by dates'
As there was little prospect of production restarting, he said a total of 266 people had been made redundant.
"Our priority over the coming days will be to work with all affected employees to provide the assistance they need in claiming monies owed from the Redundancy Payments Office," Mr Pole said.
"We will also be seeking buyers for the business and its assets. Any interested parties are advised to contact us as soon as possible."
Image copyright Getty Images
Russell Hume's directors said they would continue to work with the FSA over the issues it had raised, but added:
"We still feel its action has been out of all proportion to the concerns it says it has identified.
"The fact that its investigations have become industry-wide and a number of other firms have also had issues strongly suggests there is a lack of clarity in the industry and in current FSA guidelines.
"Prior to this, we had a long, unblemished record for supplying quality meat products."
The FSA said its investigation into the company was continuing and that it had taken "proportionate action based on serious and widespread problems".
"We do not take these decisions lightly and we recognise this will be a worrying time for employees and their families," a spokesman said.
"It is for food businesses to ensure the food they produce is safe and our role is to provide assurances that a business is meeting its responsibilities."
Russell Hume supplied meat to a range of hotels, restaurants and pubs across the UK and had six production sites in Liverpool, Birmingham, London, Boroughbridge, Exeter and Fife.
