Pie-maker in court over ‘serious risk to public health’

Shirley Begley of Shirley’s Pies will pay towards the destruction of her own meat after a court heard she had no record of how old it was or where it came from.

It came after a routine check on her premises in The Old Coal Yard, Hallgate Lane, Preesall, revealed sixteen 2.5 kilo bags of game pie filling which had none of the required labelling such as the address of the supplier, the life span of the food and what the bags contained.

Subsequently Wyre Borough Council’s public health department successfully 
applied for a condemnation and destruction order for 
the contents of the sixteen bags.

Begley will have to pay £100 court costs and £25 towards the destruction of the game meat, Blackpool Magistrates ruled.

Anita Elliot, prosecuting, said a public health officer with 35 years experience paid a visit to the bakery, which sells its products at game fairs and farmers’ markets in the north as well as to local residents.

An invoice revealed the bags had come from Hy-Fly Game Hatcheries Ltd of Pilling Lane, Preesall.

The prosecutor said: “Hy-fly is not registered as food producers or game handlers.

“But an inspection revealed game birds were being processed in unhygenic conditions and the business will now be further investigated by the council.

“However it is Begley who has failed to show an audit of the meat and there are no documents to show a legitimate supply chain and this could have posed a serious risk to public health.”

Begley did not attend the hearing in Blackpool and the case went ahead in her absence