BERNARD Matthews is a much-loved brand which is best known for producing turkey meat products.
The company is also the subject of a Channel 4 Dispatches investigation — but who founded the food giant, who owns it now and what is the documentary about?
Who was the founder of Bernard Matthews?
Bernard Matthews Farms was founded by Bernard Trevor Matthews (January 24, 1930 — November 25, 2010) in May 1950, when he bought 20 eggs and a second-hand incubator.
12 turkeys hatched from the eggs, which he sold to a farmer for the equivalent of £9 in today’s money.
By 1955 demand was so great that he bought Great Witchingham Hall, Norfolk, which had 36 acres of land and became the company’s headquarters — where turkeys were hatched, reared and prepared.
Before Matthews started rearing turkeys, they were only seen in the UK in butchers at Christmas and it was very expensive — setting back the average worker two weeks wages.
In the 1960s Bernard was entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest turkey farmer in Europe and was recognised as the leading expert in the field, with foreign governments asking him for advice about turkey farming.
Who owns Bernard Matthews now?
In 2016 entrepreneur Ranjit Singh Boparan purchased Bernard Matthews Foods Limited.
Today the company employs over 2,000 people.
The brand manufactures frozen and cooked meat products, which are widely available through most UK distribution channels, catering groups and major retailers.
Ranjit is also the founder and owner of the 2 Sisters Food Group, along with his wife Baljinder Kaur Boparan.
He’s known as the ‘Chicken King’ in the West Midlands and has an estimated personal fortune of around £600million.
What is Channel 4 Dispatches’ about?
The Channel 4 Dispatches documentary How Safe Is Your Turkey? first aired on Friday December 8 at 7.30pm, and is available for a month from that date on All 4 — the channel’s streaming service.
The description of the documentary on All 4 is: “In the run-up to Christmas, nine million turkeys will be sold across Britain. Dispatches investigates food safety concerns at one producer.”
The Dispatches investigation, which includes undercover filming at Bernard Matthews’ Holton processing plant in Suffolk, focuses on alleged food safety breaches at the site.
The documentary is the subject of an ongoing legal challenge by Bernard Matthews’ lawyers.
A confidential source with inside knowledge told the Grocer: “It’s a cooked-up festive scare story that doesn’t hold water.
“This factory has been audited to death in the past year, let alone the past month.
“You’ve got auditors, customers and regulators crawling all over the place.”
A spokesman from Bernard Matthews said the company “wholeheartedly rejects the central thrust of this proposed Dispatches programme and condemns the tactics it employs”.
He also said he believes Channel 4 “set out to create a food scare story where none exists.”
He said: “Not only is this a gross slur on more than a thousand incredibly hard-working colleagues at this factory, it unfairly undermines our entire sector.
“The facts are clear. Our products are safe: our independent five-day investigation says they’re safe and our regulator says they’re safe.
“Our 24/7 CCTV cameras show they’re safe. We can confidently reassure customers and consumers that our products remain safe.
“Ours is a highly regulated industry and, in keeping with other food processors, we’ve welcomed over 40 separate and independent inspections in the past 11 months.
“The FSA [Food Standards Agency] carried out full inspections as recently as 4 and 5 December.”
Chief operating officer at the FSA Junior Johnson also responded to the claims made in the Dispatches investigation: “Food businesses are the first line of defence in ensuring food is safe.
“As soon as the allegations were put to us, we sent an official veterinarian into the plant to carry out a full check of records and operating procedures.
“This did not identify any food safety breaches, but we are continuing to look into the issues raised by the programme.
“We will not hesitate to take action if needed to ensure consumers are protected.”
