The horse butchers: Inside UK meat plant which was closed 30 minutes later
Our photo shows staff cutting up and boxing horse meat as they were shadowed by officials from the FSA wearing boiler suits and face masks
Carcass: Staff at work minutes before the factory was closedThis is the first time any journalist has gained access to a factory working with horse meat since the scandal began.
Our photo shows staff at Farmbox Meats cutting up and boxing horse meat as they were shadowed by officials from the FSA wearing boiler suits and face masks.
Company owner Dafydd Raw-Rees, who had invited the Mirror into the factory, insists that his firm has done nothing wrong.
But at 10.30am – half an hour after our picture was taken – the FSA dramatically ordered the butchers to stop work.
The FSA officials shut the factory down while they continued their investigation which had begun the night before.
On Tuesday evening 20 police and the FSA team swooped on the meat factory in the sleepy village of Llandre in Ceredigion.
The agency is looking into allegations that meat products labelled as beef for kebabs and burgers was in fact horse meat.
The FSA suspended operations on Tuesday, detained all the meat and seized paperwork.
As the butchers were allowed to restart work yesterday, the FSA continued to pore over the facility, inspecting meat and taking photos.
Crisis: Dafydd Raw-Rees says he's distressed for his staff And it wasn’t long before the FSA ordered the workers out. Last night the government officials suspended Mr Raw-Rees’ licence until further notice and closed the factory down until tomorrow.
The FSA believes Peter Boddy Licensed Slaughterhouse, in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, supplied horse carcasses to Farmbox Meats near Aberystwyth.
The Peter Boddy plant, which denies any wrongdoing, was also raided by the FSA and police on Tuesday.
After opening his doors to the Mirror yesterday, Mr Raw-Rees, 64, denied he was using horse meat for burgers or kebabs.
He says all the meat is destined for a client in Belgium. The landowner added the carcasses were delivered from an abattoir in Ireland.
Mr Raw-Rees said: “I am very distressed at what is happening – this will ruin my reputation. This is a fully legitimate operation.
"All we do is cut the meat, we don’t process it or make it into burgers or kebabs.
“I’m just trying to run a business and I feel like I have been dealt a very low blow.
“My staff are worried about their futures and I cannot speak highly enough of them.”
Bones: Carcassses loaded by forklift truck He said he takes in tons of horse carcasses from Ireland to be cut up before the meat is shipped to a customer in Belgium who has been dealing in horse flesh for generations.
He also says he only started processing horse meat three weeks ago and that it is fully licensed.
The latest shipment was delivered from Ireland on Tuesday, hours before the FSA arrived unannounced.
Mr Raw-Rees said: “There is nothing untoward going on here.
"We are a simple meat cutting operation drawn into the horse meat feeding frenzy.
"I’m desperate for people to know we have done nothing wrong.
“I was looking to expand and this opportunity came up. It pays well and I went for it.”
Mr Raw-Rees was keen to distance himself from the Todmorden abattoir.
Probe: Gates closed at the meat factory He said: “I have only had three dealings with them.
"The FSA were particularly interested in a shipment of cattle I received from them late last year.
"I am co-operating with the FSA but it is beyond me why they are saying they know that meat from here was used in kebabs and burgers.
"I can categorically state that is not the case.
“There’s a complete paper trail. The book keeping here is all above board and up to date.
"The Todmorden abattoir must have scores of other customers.”
A statement from Mr Raw-Rees’ solicitor said last night: “While co-operating in this investigation, the firm wishes to express its dissatisfaction with the comments made by the FSA which are untrue, according to our instructions, and should not have been made until these matters had been made subject to legal scrutiny.”
The horse shipment being processed at the plant, which also de-bones beef and lamb, is being stored on site and may perish before it can be shipped to Belgium.