08 Jan 2008 - Ref 02/08
BIRMINGHAM FRUIT & VEG SUPPLIERS
ORDERED TO PAY OVER £15,000 IN FINES AND COSTS
Horticultural Marketing Inspections (HMI), part of Rural Payments Agency (RPA), successfully prosecuted M&W Mack Limited, trading as Mack Markets Division, and Philip Wheeler, a fresh salad salesman, on 21 December 2007 for displaying and selling five below-standard consignments of tomatoes, sweet peppers and lettuce at Birmingham Wholesale Market in Pershore Street, Birmingham.
The company and Mr Wheeler each pleaded guilty to a total of nine offences at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court and were fined a total of £11,250 and ordered to pay costs of £4,250.
The charges related to breaches of the EC Grading Rules for fresh fruit and vegetables at Birmingham Wholesale Market on 25th April 2007. Mr Wheeler, acting on behalf of Mack Markets Division, displayed and offered for sale two consignments of Canary Island tomatoes, a consignment of Israeli sweet yellow peppers, one consignment of Spanish sweet red peppers and one consignment of Spanish iceberg lettuce, all of which were below the minimum standards for saleable produce, in contravention of the Agricultural and Horticulture Act 1964.
All five consignments failed to meet the lowest marketable class permitted i.e. Class II of the EC Marketing Standards for regulated fresh fruit and vegetables; the consignments all contained a higher than allowed proportion of rotting produce. The prosecution was brought following investigation by HMI.
Barrie Stedman, Head of Rural Payments Agency’s Inspectorate, said: “Our inspectors are there to help traders ensure their merchandise is up to a proper standard and that consumers can be confident in the produce they are buying.
“HMI advice was offered to Mack Markets Division and Mr Wheeler on numerous occasions but was ignored. We view court action as a last resort, and only proceed with it when we believe we have exhausted all other options to get a trader to trade within the law. However, as this case shows, we are perfectly willing to go to court if necessary, to ensure that the law is upheld and that the interests of consumers and traders operating within the law are protected.”
Note to Editors
1 M&W Mack Limited trades as Mack Markets Division in Birmingham Wholesale Market and is one of the country’s leading fresh produce suppliers. The company has wholesale outlets in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Newquay, Southampton and Wolverhampton.
2 The company were fined £1000 per offence for each of the nine offences, and ordered to pay a contribution of £4000 towards costs. Mr Wheeler was fined £250 for each of the offences, and ordered to pay a £250 contribution towards costs.
3 The company is part of the Fresca Group Limited, with a reported group turnover in 2005/2006 of £369 million.
4 Horticultural Marketing Inspections is part of Rural Payments Agency (RPA). The Inspectorate is responsible for the enforcement of the EC Marketing Standards for fresh fruit, vegetables, salad crops, nuts, cultivated mushroom, flowers and bulbs throughout England and Wales, wherever fresh produce is grown, imported, exported, bought or sold.
HMI operates a transparent risk based approach to enforcement in which its principle aim is to gain cooperation and compliance of the trade it regulates at all stages of the distribution chain. Prosecutions are only taken as a last resort when all other options of education and advice have been exhausted.
The prosecution then follows the Hampton procedures of identifying and isolating any persistent and blatant offenders. The ultimate sanction of prosecution is then used as a clear deterrent to others who may look to break European Commission Grading rules in order to obtain an advantage over other commercial competitors.
5 Further information about the work of HMI can be found on RPA’s website at
www.rpa.gov.uk
6 RPA is an Executive Agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), providing a range of key services in support of the department’s objectives, including making rural payments, carrying out rural inspections, and livestock tracing.
7 Media only contact: Ciaran Baker, press office, 0118 9 687 680
Page published: 8 January 2008