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Consumer safety behind new line
From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Thursday 19th Jul 2001.
A year ago Bowyers lost a major Marks & Spencer contract. It was a bitter blow to the workforce. But, behind the scenes, bosses were already planning to build an innovative production line to develop new vegetarian lines for the national chain.
What's more, it is an idea others are bound to follow. NICOLA DEW reports.
FEW outsiders will ever get to see the new nut production lines at Pork Farms Bowyers.
The risk of contaminating Bowyers' other products with nuts is so great staff have to go through a rigorous procedure before being allowed into the new section of the Trowbridge factory.
There is a separate canteen, where none of the chocolate bars contain nuts, and workers wear distinctive yellow overalls which go to a different laundry service from the rest of the factory.
Engineers keep a separate set of tools in the new production area so there is no risk of carrying traces of nuts back to the sausages, pies and pasties being made on the other side of the site.
Paperwork is scanned into a computer so that it does not need to leave the building and the yellow pens used to fill in the documents, stay within the unit's four walls.
It seems a lot of effort just to produce a nut roast.
But that is the price manufacturers have to pay to protect people who are allergic to nuts.
"What a lot of people forget is that nuts can kill. If we get this wrong, it could kill someone," said Pork Farms Bowyers managing director Steve Crossley.
In the past, any factory which used nuts had to label every single one of its products to show there was a risk of what is called trace contamination.
The innovation in Trowbridge is that the new £2.5m nut lines are in the centre of an existing food factory but completely sealed off.
High street chain Marks & Spencer claims to be leading the way in food labelling and has spent the past three years helping Pork Farms to develop plans for the new factory.
Head of food technology David Gregory says there is a growing market for vegetarian dishes and at the same time, growing pressure from organisations like the Anaphylaxis Campaign to improve food labelling.
The new Trowbridge factory has opened in time to cut its teeth on a Christmas selection of pork and chestnut stuffings and nut roasts.
It will eventually help to extend Marks & Spencer's range.
In the past, something as simple as a chicken satay has been a manufacturing nightmare.
"Trying to get anyone to make it was impossible because our suppliers wouldn't take nuts into their factory," said M&S food technologist Heather Doyle.
"Now we can make products with the proper ingredients rather than trying to get around it and make something that's not authentic."
The risk of cross-contamination is something factory staff have been trained to take seriously, thanks to co-operation from the Anaphylaxis Campaign.
Its food safety adviser Hazel Gowland first heard of the plans when Bowyers' occupational health nurse asked if staff who are susceptible to allergies would be at risk if they worked on the new production lines.
"That shows there has been a commitment from the whole business to this project," said Mrs Gowland, who used her own experience of a nut and peanut allergy to educate staff.
"I think we are leading the world in managing allergen risk in this country. That's partly because retailers like Marks & Spencer are motivating people like Pork Farms Bowyers to meet such high standards by offering them contracts."
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