A SOMERSET farmer has been ordered to pay more than £50,000 for failing to test chickens and eggs for salmonella before they went into the food chain.

At Bath Magistrates Court on Wednesday (July 3) Stuart Perkins, 38, of Haywood Farm, Radstock, pleaded guilty to not carrying out the legally required testing for two years from 2021 to 2023 and for submitting chickens for slaughter with either falsified documentation or with documentation which did not relate to the birds being slaughtered, between July 2023 and October 2023.

In a case jointly prosecuted by Heart of the South West Trading Standards Service and the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the court heard that Perkins ran a farm producing boiler chickens and free-range eggs, with the chickens being processed at his abattoir across the road.

By law, farms producing eggs are required to conduct routine salmonella tests in their poultry sheds every 15 weeks during the laying period.

All birds must arrive at the slaughterhouse with the salmonella test result and the date the sample was taken.

However, when the Egg Marketing Inspector visited the farm and requested salmonella reports, Perkins produced 16 reports dated back to August 2021, 13 of which had been falsified.

As part of the investigation, 43 documents showing that testing had been carried out on the chickens were also found to have been filled out by Perkins himself.

Fakir Mohamed Osman, head of the Heart of the South West Trading Standards Service, said: “We take breaches of this kind very seriously. The prevention of salmonella programme is there for a reason, to safeguard the public.

“Producers suspected of not carrying out the required testing will be investigated.

“The defendant’s actions presented a real risk to public health, and I am pleased that, thanks to our collaborative efforts with the Food Standards Agency, we were able to take action”.

Andrew Quinn, head of the Food Standards Agency’s National Food Crime Unit (NFCU), said: "We welcome this substantial fine as it shows the serious nature of faking documents and jeopardising food safety.

“This should act as a deterrent to anyone else considering taking dangerous shortcuts and breaching food safety and hygiene laws.

“I want to thank Heart of the South West Trading Standards for their excellent work in securing this result, as well as Avon and Somerset Police for their assistance.

“Together, we are stronger in the fight against food crime, and we continue to work with partners so food is safe and to help ensure that consumers are protected.”

Perkins and his company, SG Perkins Limited were ordered to pay a total of £50,830.75.

This includes a fine of £5,000 for each of the offences prosecuted by the Food Standards Agency (£20,000 total), and £3,500 for each of the offences related to his business (total £7,000).

Costs of £1,5472.75 were awarded to the FSA and costs of £6,358 were awarded to Devon County Council (Trading Standards) and a victim surcharge of £2,000.