News Report criticises FSA and local authority inspection regimes The problems identified at the 2 Sisters plant in West Bromwich are not a one-off, according to a recent report published by the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (Efra). It called for the incident at 2 Sisters to act as a wake-up call to all accreditation firms to tighten their processes and remove some of the more obvious loopholes. Food safety breaches came to light in August during a joint investigation by The Guardian and ITV News, which found numerous food hygiene breaches, including: chicken returned from one supermarket being repacked and sent out to another supermarket; staff changing labels on meat to extend the use-by date; and food dropped on the floor being returned to the production line. The report set out to see how the Food Standards Agency received intelligence about practices in major food processing facilities, and what steps were being taken in response to the recent allegations made against the 2 Sisters plant. It described the food accreditation system as patchwork with a lack of joined-up intelligence and knowledge-sharing that allows firms to hide infractions, including opting-out of unannounced visits which the 2 Sisters plant had been able to do. It recommended that: agencies start systematically sharing data and intelligence to keep a single unified record of standards and practices; the FSAs food crime unit receive an increased budget to enable it to have an investigatory remit; and Efra should consider extending compulsory CCTV monitoring to all meat-cutting plants. A failure in a single section of the [food supply] chain can have catastrophic effects, it concluded. We recommend that the FSA provide us with a written assurance that each reform promised by the accreditation agencies, 2 Sisters Food Group and the FSA itself has been made, no later than six months from publication of this report. Father and son fraudsters ordered to pay 250,000 to victims court to recover as much as possible from the proceeds of a spate of frauds across the south east that raked in more than 2m over three years. Green Snr, of Horton Road, Staines, was handed a four-year jail sentence last year, while Green Jnr, of Sutton Lane, Slough, was given a suspended prison sentence and ordered to carry out unpaid work. At Guildford Crown Court on 25 October, Judge Jonathan Black imposed a confiscation order on all Green Snrs assets, which are worth 213,180. Green Jnr was ordered to hand over assets of 45,000 after criminal activity was found to have benefited him by 212,013. ISToCk.Com / AnDRej_k A Surrey rogue trader and his money launderer son have been ordered to return more than 250,000 to victims who were charged extortionate sums for shoddy roofing and building work. Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards took John Green senior and John Green junior to Consumer groups attend BEIS roundtable on Brexit CTSI chief executive Leon Livermore met government ministers and consumer groups last month to discuss the potential impact of Britains impending exit from the EU. Consumer minister Margot James, and Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) minister Robin Walker, hosted the roundtable at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Ministers affirmed the governments commitment to maintaining high standards of consumer protection, and heard suggested steps that the government could take to ensure consumers are still considered after the UK leaves the EU. Joined by representatives from Which?, MoneySavingExpert, Citizens Advice, Citizens Advice Scotland, and the Consumer Council Northern Ireland, the roundtable heard concerns over consumer protections and consumer representation following Brexit. Livermore addressed several areas of concern with the EU Withdrawal Bill. Its currently unclear how, if at all, the UK can retain and underpin vital consumer protections networks in the UK, such as the Regulation on Accreditation and Market Surveillance (RAMS) system which sets out a number of important definitions for market surveillance authorities and RAPEX, the rapid alert system for product safety alert. The initial meeting of CTSIs Brexit think tank raised a recurring theme of reciprocity. Livermore asked how we can retain consumer protection networks that require reciprocal arrangements with EU member states. Speaking after the roundtable, Livermore said: Leaving the EU will be a huge challenge for our country, and its vital UK consumers are not disadvantaged by Brexit. In the Autumn Budget, the government announced it was setting aside an extra 3bn for Brexit negotiations. Scammers target Action Fraud Action Fraud suffered a scam attack recently when a fake Twitter account was set up using the organisations name. The fraudsters hijacked conversations and requested that people give personal information. Action Fraud and Twitter acted quickly to get the fake account shut down.