A chicken processing company has been fined for operating its West Yorkshire slaughterhouse without a permit from the Environment Agency.

At Bradford Magistrates’ Court on the 7th January 2010 Yorkshire Poultry Products Limited pleaded guilty to one offence of operating its slaughterhouse at Hammerton Street in Bradford other than as authorised by an environmental permit. They were charged for offences contrary to Regulation 12 and 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 and Section 2 of the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1991.

The company, of Hammerton Street, Bradford, was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay full prosecution costs of £2,867 and a victim surcharge of £15.

Jill Fogg, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, told the court Yorkshire Poultry Products had been made aware of the regulations requiring it to apply for an environmental permit. The company, which sources, processes and supplies chickens to the catering industry, began the application process in 2005 and again in 2006 but did not pursue the matter. New laws came into force in April 2008, meaning any slaughterhouse processing more than 50 tonnes of carcasses each day would require an environmental permit.

Miss Fogg said the permitting system regulates potentially polluting processes, with conditions to reduce or prevent odours, and efficiently use water and energy. Applying for a permit is subject to a fee and then a yearly charge while it remains in force.

The Environment Agency wrote to Yorkshire Poultry Products to try to establish its site’s capacity and inquiries revealed a new production line installed in 2005 had increased the maximum capacity.

Environment officers visited the premises in February 2009 and checked records which showed that on five occasions in January 2009 the company was processing more than 50 tonnes of chickens.
Miss Fogg said this indicated that not only did the company have the capacity to process more than 50 tonnes of chickens but was actually doing so.

In interview, Yorkshire Poultry Products accepted the figures in the records inspected but claimed the Environment Agency had made a lucky choice with those particular days’ records. However, the company agreed the capacity of the site and said in the past six months this figure had crept over the threshold at which a permit was required and they had no older records of production levels.

Miss Fogg told the court the company had since applied for and been granted a permit but operating without one, despite advice one was required, was an aggravating factor.

Rupert Nevin, in mitigation, said the company had co-operated with the Environment Agency and had promptly admitted responsibility and taken steps to remedy the problem. The court heard the company had no previous convictions for environmental offences and gave it credit for a timely guilty plea.