Fourth supermarket suspends business with chicken giant

The high street giant joins Marks and Spencer, Lidl and Aldi in halting deliveries from the West Bromwich plant following a series of alleged breaches of food safety rules.

The move follows an announcement by the chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee who is considering a 'short, sharp parliamentary inquiry' into food safety at 2 Sisters, the UK's largest supplier of chickens to supermarkets.

Neil Parish MP said the inquiry would seek to 'restore public confidence' and hoped the firm's owner, Ranjit Boparan, could be called to give evidence.

It is claimed older birds were dumped in with fresh stock but given the same sell-by dates and chickens thrown back on the production line after falling on the floor.

Other allegations include records of where the birds were slaughtered being altered, making them difficult to trace in the event of a food scare.

The 2 Sisters Food Group said it took the allegations 'extremely seriously' and was urgently looking into them. The claims were made following an undercover investigation, including video footage taken at the Dial Lane factory, by The Guardian and ITV News.

Sainsbury's said that while it investigates the allegations it had stopped taking any products from the site.

Previously M&S issued a statement saying: "The standards shown in the footage are unacceptable, we take hygiene and traceability very seriously."

An Aldi spokesperson said: "We expect all suppliers to adhere to the highest possible food hygiene and traceability standards at all times.”

Lidl said it was 'very disappointed to see the unacceptable standards shown' and would not be using the supplier until investigations have been satisfactorily concluded.

Tesco, which is also supplied by the firm, have announced they are investigating the claims but as yet have not pulled its business.

2 Sisters Food Group was founded in West Bromwich in 1993 by Ranjit Boparan, who has built the business into one of the UK's largest food producers, employing 23,000 staff.

The empire is vast although the bulk of the group’s sales come from processing poultry. It is the biggest supplier of chicken products in the UK, with a third of the market share. Boparan and his wife, Baljinder's joint wealth is estimated to be £544 million.