News
Deaths could be linked to salmonella in SFC chicken’s boneless buckets
THE FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY has issued an urgent warning about a chicken product sold in food stores across Wales.
The agency has recalled three chicken products for possible salmonella contamination.
The products affected are SFC chicken’s boneless bucket and poppets and Vestey Food’s Chick Inn jumbo chicken nuggets
Five people are suspected to have died and hundreds more, including children, became seriously ill after eating contaminated chicken imported from Poland.
The processed chicken products are typically bought by parents as a cheap and easy meal for children. Some 44 per cent of victims were aged 16 or under.
The meat was turned into cheap frozen nuggets and breaded chicken products sold by major supermarkets across the UK over the past year.
Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have been selling the products for months while the Vestey nuggets have been sold through hundreds of Heron Foods stores, B&M, and B&M Express.
Some 480 people are known to have fallen ill with salmonella poisoning with more than one in three becoming so sick they needed hospital treatment.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued a warning over the consumption of two SFC chicken products – which use packaging that mimics KFC – Take Home Boneless Bucket and Chicken Poppets.
There also been a recall of Chick Inn 32 Jumbo Chicken Nuggets, made by Vestey Foods.
Head of the Gastrointestinal Pathogens of the National Infection Service, Saheer Gharbia, said: “Salmonella generally causes a mild illness, although vulnerable groups like children under five years, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems may experience more severe illness and may require hospitalisation.
“Symptoms of a Salmonella infection include diarrhoea, stomach cramps and sometimes vomiting and fever. Anyone who is concerned about symptoms should contact their GP or out of hours service in the first instance.”
Chief operating officer of the Food Standards Agency, Colin Sullivan, said: “Our advice is to always take care when storing, handling and cooking these types of frozen breaded chicken products to help reduce the risk of food poisoning to you and your family.
“You should always check the cooking instructions on food packaging, as different brands of the same product might have different instructions. Cooking food at the right temperature and for the correct length of time will ensure that any harmful bacteria are killed.”
SFC, which is based in Merseyside, apologised and said it would like to “assure customers of our continuing commitment to the highest standard of quality and safety”
Public health watchdogs say the salmonella infection has been recorded as a contributory cause of death in at least one case.
A further four deaths have been linked to the outbreaks, although it is not clear whether salmonella infection was a factor for those.
Vestey, which is based in Croydon, confirmed salmonella had been found in the Chick Inn nuggets product.
News
County Hall lights up to mark Holocaust Memorial Day
COUNTY HALL in Haverfordwest will be lit in purple on Monday January 27 to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
This year Holocaust Memorial Day marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and remembers the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust and those killed in genocides that followed.
The theme of this year’s commemoration is ‘For a Better Future’ and focuses on what everyone can do to create a better future.
This includes speaking up against Holocaust and genocide denial, challenging prejudice and encouraging others to learn about the Holocaust and more recent genocides.
Pembrokeshire County Council Leader, Cllr Jon Harvey, said: “This year’s Holocaust Memorial Day is particularly poignant as we remember the moments that Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated and the horrors of the Holocaust revealed to the world.
“We all have an opportunity to take action for a better future. A better future where people are not suffering prejudice or persecution because of their faith, ethnicity or other characteristic.”
Council Presiding Member, Cllr Simon Hancock added: “On Holocaust Memorial Day, we remember the Jewish victims of the Holocaust and all the others who suffered under Nazi persecution and the genocides that have followed.
“As we honour their memories, we also pledge to fight prejudice, discrimination, and antisemitism in society today.”
You can see more information on Holocaust Memorial Day at: https://hmd.org.uk/
News
Pembrokeshire cottage extension expected to be refused
PLANS adapt an outbuilding at a north Pembrokeshire cottage, which has had two previous extensions, to provide additional space for visiting family members are expected to be refused.
In an application recommended for refusal at Pembrokeshire Coast National Park’s development management committee meeting of January 29, Mr and Mrs Lewis seek permission for the park to allow habitable rooms in a consented building, along with a link to the existing dwelling at Lleine, near Moylegrove.
A supporting statemen through agent Harries Planning Design Management says: “This planning application follows a previously submitted planning application for extension to the dwelling and the rebuilding of existing outbuildings.
“It also follows a pre-application advice enquiry for an extension and to allow habitable rooms in the outbuilding and a refusal for an application of a similar nature. Following the refusal, we met with officers at the [national park] offices in Pembroke Dock to discuss a way forward for this proposal given the reason is to enable relatives to stay with the family. We therefore have followed the advice of the officers and provided amended plans following their response.”
An officer report for planners says Lleine, on a minor coastal road linking Newport and Moylegrove, is a traditional single-storey cottage that has been extended on two occasions previously.
It adds: “This application seeks consent to allow habitable rooms in an outbuilding which previously gained planning permission, together with the erection of a link to the existing dwelling. The current application follows the refusal [of a previous application], which also sought consent to allow habitable rooms in the previously consented building, and the construction of a link to the main dwelling.
“It was considered by officers that the proposal represented an over-development of the original dwelling by introducing additional accommodation and built form over and above that which was granted.”
It says that while the revised proposal is smaller, “it is still considered that the further additional built form would be an over-development of the existing dwelling, which already been extended extensively”.
The application has been brought to committee consideration rather than decided by officers at the request of the local councillor.
Crime
Dyfed-Powys Police tax bill could rise by nine percent
THE POLICE part of the council tax bill in Dyfed and Powys is expected to rise by nearly nine percent, meaning the average household could be paying £360 for that element alone.
The overall council tax bill for residents in the counties of Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Powys is made up of the county council element of the council tax, the Dyfed-Powys Police precept, and individual town or community council precepts.
In a summary before the January 24 meeting of the Dyfed Powys Police and Crime Panel, held at County Hall, Haverfordwest, Police and Crime Commissioner Dafydd Llywelyn calls for a raising of the precept by nearly nine per cent for the 2025-’26 financial year.
The summary says: “After extensive scrutiny by the Police & Crime Panel (P&CP), I was unanimously supported in setting a council tax precept for 2024/25 in Dyfed-Powys of £332.03 for an average band D property, once again being the lowest in Wales.
“At every stage within the series of precept and medium-term financial plan meetings, and indeed through my scrutiny and review of the in-year financial position, I critically question and constructively challenge aspects of the revenue budget requirement and organisational delivery structure to assure myself of the requirements, progress and ultimate delivery. I also undertook a series of challenge and scrutiny sessions specifically reviewing the Estates, ICT and Fleet Strategies and future capital programme.
“To inform my considerations for 2025/26 and to fulfil my responsibilities as Commissioner, I consulted with the public to obtain their views on the level of police precept increase. It was pleasing to see an increase in respondents since 2024/5 with 76 per cent supporting a precept increase above Nine per cent.”
It added: “I am painfully aware of the pressures that the cost-of-living crisis continue to put on our communities. There is a fine balance between ensuring an efficient and effective, visible and accessible Policing Service, addressing operational services demands to ensure the safety of the public, whilst also ensuring value for money for the taxpayers and sound financial management.
“Having undertaken a comprehensive process, I am confident in the robustness of this MTFP, but this does not underestimate the difficult decisions or indeed mitigate the financial challenges and uncertainties which are outside of our control.
“I therefore submit my precept proposal for scrutiny by the Dyfed- Powys Police and Crime Panel, which will raise the average Band D property precept by £2.39 per month or £28.65 per annum to £360.68, an 8.6 per cent increase. This increase will raise a total precept of £86.366m.
“This will provide a total funding of £153.304m, representing a £9.4m/6.5 per cent increase on the revised funding for 2024/25.”
For the individual council tax bands of A-I, the proposed levels, and increase on last year, are: £240.46 (+£19.10), £280.53 (+£22.29), £320.61 (+£25.47), £360.68 (+£28.65), £440.84 (+£35.02), £520.99 (+£41.39), £601.14 (+£47.76), £721.37 (+£57.31), and £841.60 (+£66.86).
Ceredigion is currently mooting a near-10 per cent increase in that element of the overall council tax bill.
Anyone paying a premium on council tax, such as second home-owners, also pay the premium on the police precept, meaning their bills for this element are proportionately higher.
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