The meat was fit only for pet food and fertilizer

Nottingham Crown Court was told that millions of chicken and turkey carcasses, fit only for pet food or fertilizer, were distributed across the UK from a dilapidated, rat-infested factory in Derbyshire.

It is alleged some of the chicken and turkey ended up in supermarkets, old people's homes and curry houses.

The meat, often left exposed to the elements in giant skips, was sold to processing companies who marketed the food as fillets, goujons or mince.

Significant risk

The court was shown footage shot by police scenes-of-crimes officers that featured skips filled with rancid meat and the crude processing plant where the poultry was trimmed and packaged into crates and bags.

Jurors also saw a pool of standing water in the middle of the factory, which was later discovered to contain raw sewage.

Jurors heard evidence that Denby Poultry Products Limited, in Denby, Derbyshire, bought waste chicken from companies across the country for as little as �25 per ton and sold it as food at between �1,568 and �1,792 per ton.

It was a most unhygienic set-up Ben Nolan Prosecutor

Five men, three from the company and two who were customers, are on trial and deny a charge of conspiracy to defraud.

Peter Roberts, 68, of Francis Street, Chaddesden, Derby, and Simon Haslam, 39 of Alder Road, Belper, Derbyshire along with Brian John Davies, 64, of Walmersley Road, Bury, Brian Paul Davies, 37, of Moor Road, Bury, and David Watson, 38, of Paxton Crescent, Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, are all alleged to have carried out the scam.

Jurors were told that Mr Roberts had failed to appear at court and is being tried in his absence.

Meat paste

Jurors heard that the chicken waste was picked up from processing plants in maggot-infested vans and that the same, unrefrigerated vehicles were used to deliver the dressed and packaged poultry to customers.

Ben Nolan QC, prosecuting said: "It is a most unhygienic set-up. The buildings are dilapidated and in places open to the elements," said Mr Nolan.

Companies who bought meat from Denby included food manufacturers in Milton Keynes, Northampton and Bury.

Mr Nolan said that MK Poultry, in Northampton, used the chicken to produce a leading brand of meat paste and also for food supplied to care homes for the elderly.

The court was told that another customer, B Davies Meats, in Bury, sold on the poultry to another leading supermarket chain and that a third firm, S J Watson, based in Milton Keynes, packaged the poultry to be sold at markets.