A Worcestershire food factory worker has been incarcerated for maliciously contaminating food products intended for The Ivy Group and Nando’s hummus. Garry Jones inserted plastic bags, rubber gloves and ring pulls into the food. Jones has been jailed for three years for his actions, which the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said were “knowingly and maliciously” carried out. Jones contaminated goods had not reached any final customers.
Harvey & Brockless who manufactures the products that were tampered with stated that their internal investigation revealed that other boxes had been tampered with. Consequently, the firm concluded that an employee was responsible for the contamination, and the police were alerted. The CPS stated that any contamination must not have occurred during production but must have taken place in the storage area of the factory. The use of metal detectors on food products before leaving the kitchen area ensured that any contamination did not occur during production.
Jones was a “picker” at the Evesham firm, responsible for taking the required ingredients to be used for cooking the following day, according to the CPS. CCTV footage revealed that Jones had tampered with tubs of salad dressings and hummus while alone until he was caught and arrested on November 10. Jones told West Midlands Police during interrogation that he had combined fish sauce with soy sauce earlier.
Harvey & Brockless has confirmed that most of the tampered products did not reach their destination and any that did were returned immediately before they reached the end consumer. The manufacturer has invested in extra CCTV cameras to ensure that all areas are fully covered to avoid future incidents. Jones has also been sentenced to nine months in jail for breaking into a colleague’s house through a window and stealing a pink hairbrush which will run consecutively with his sentence for contaminating goods for a total of 33 months
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