A WORCESTERSHIRE food factory has said the actions of a man sent to prison for contaminating food could have had "awful consequences" if it had not been vigilant.
Garry Jones, 38, of Larch Road, Evesham, was jailed for contaminating/interfering with goods with intent and burglary at Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday (October 3).
The court heard Jones added metal ring pulls, gloves and plastic bags into pots of hummus and added fish into fish-free products which could have been potentially life-threatening to anyone allergic to it while working at Harvey & Brockless in Evesham.
In a new statement Nick Martin, managing director of Harvey & Brockless, said: “It gives no-one at the company any pleasure that Garry Jones, our former colleague, has been sentenced to serve time in prison.
“However, we feel it is important that people realise that any such criminal actions will be punished, and for that reason we welcome the sentence he received.
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“This disturbing episode could have had awful consequences if Harvey & Brockless had not had such robust quality assurance and product recall procedures in place.
“While everyone at the company was shocked and appalled at what happened, we were also reassured at how our quick response meant that no contaminated products ever reached any end consumers.
“As soon as we became aware of the contaminations taking place, we recalled the entire batch of products involved and communicated openly with all our customers and with the Environmental Health officer.
“The vast majority of the products involved never even reached their destination, and any items that did were quickly returned before reaching the end consumer, which meant everyone was fully protected from any contamination.
“Harvey & Brockless is pleased that the Worcester Environmental Health Officer noted the ‘totally professional way’ the company dealt with resolving the matter.”
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