Garry Jones, a 38-year-old man, has been sentenced to 42 months imprisonment in England after admitting to tampering with food products used in high street restaurants. Jones worked for Harvey and Brockless Fine Food Company, a manufacturing firm based in Evesham that supplies restaurants nationwide, including outlets owned by The Ivy Group and Nando’s.
In late October 2022, Harvey and Brockless discovered that dozens of their products had been contaminated with rubber gloves, plastic bags, and metal ring pulls. An internal investigation revealed further manipulation of boxes, leading the company to suspect an employee’s involvement. The police were contacted, and CCTV footage from the factory showed Jones tampering with tubs of hummus and salad dressings when he was alone.
The company’s products undergo a metal detector check before leaving the kitchen area, indicating that the tampering occurred in the storage area of the factory. Jones was seen mixing an unknown substance into raw ingredients intended for production the following day. He was subsequently arrested in November and admitted to combining fish sauce with soy sauce on one occasion during questioning by West Midlands Police.
Mehree Kamranfar, senior crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service in the West Midlands, described the case as “alarming” and highlighted the potential far-reaching implications. Jones’s deliberate contamination of food products distributed to popular high street restaurants posed a threat to individuals with allergies. Additionally, the sabotage cost Harvey and Brockless thousands of pounds and jeopardized the company’s reputation.
