Vacuum-packed chicken washes up on Devon beaches
A warning has been issued after vacuum-packed chicken washed up on beaches across part of North Devon.Devon and Cornwall Police said officers were first notified at 01:40 BST to about five packs of chicken washed up in Westward Ho! and its surrounding beaches.The force said it appeared a crate had fallen off a boat and the Environment Agency had been informed.Bideford Police warned people not to take home any of the chicken as it would not be fit for consumption and to be careful if walking a dog in the area.
Torridge District Council said its Public Health and Community Safety Team was aware of the incident.The council said anyone who found a packet should dispose of it responsibility and reiterated the police's warning to not eat the chicken.
What is vacuum packaging?
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said vacuum packaging (VP) and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) can increase the shelf-life of chilled food by limiting the growth of microorganisms.But it added under circumstances a bacterium called non-proteolytic Clostridium botulinum (C. botulinum) can grow in the absence of oxygen."This bacterium is able to grow and produce a harmful toxin at temperatures of 3C (37.4F) and above," the FSA said."It is important that VP/MAP chilled foods have appropriate controls in place to minimise the risk of this organism growing and producing harmful levels of toxin."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Welcome to the PIP capital of the UK where one in THREE people claim the benefit
With its bootcamp fitness classes, basketball court, football pitches and well-used running track, Victoria Park in Plymouth is an unlikely home to Britain's highest level of disability benefits claimants. But shocking new analysis has found one in three of the area's working-age residents receives Personal Independence Payments, designed to support those with long term health conditions or disabilities. MailOnline has scrutinised data from the Department of Work and Pensions that shows almost 33 per cent (1,336) of its 3,940 residents in this bracket are on the handout. The park itself is a popular area for young families with well-maintained and recently refurbished Victorian terraced homes, neighbourhood watch signs and thriving independent cafes and restaurants nearby. But just a few streets away MailOnline found addicts and alcoholics - and residents who say they are sick of seeing their taxes abused. The council 'ward' known as St. Peter and the Waterfront is the most deprived area of the Devon coastal city and is ranked in the top 1% of most disadvantaged districts in England. According to the city's Labour-run council, residents have a life expectancy of 77 years, roughly 7.5 years less than the city's least deprived area. It also has high rates of smoking, childhood obesity and emergency hospital admissions. Local resident Mary Leigh, 56, who started receiving PIP earlier this year after a heart attack stopped her working as a taxi driver said she sees high levels of benefits abuse in the area. She said: 'It doesn't surprise me at all that this is the highest area in the country for claimants - I am sure a lot of people around here are claiming but don't need it. 'There are a lot of drug and alcohol problems in this area and you see all the users sitting about all day spending their benefits. 'They are proud of not having to work - like the rest of us are suckers. 'Unfortunately some of the people that really need benefits are going to suffer. 'I have just started receiving PIP myself having paid taxes all my life, after my heart attack I used all my savings in a year trying to get back to health and I'm hoping to one day go back to work. 'I think particularly young people need to be given more incentive to work, there's enough jobs that need doing, look at the state of the parks or the street. I'd like to see them get out and pick litter to earn their doll money.' Antique dealer Simon Platt, 37, who has run a shop near Victoria Park for four years, said: 'I hate to say it but I think a lot of the problem is wokeism. 'Older people might've had a lot of mental health issues but they just got on with it. 'People are very quick to sign on and it seems to be quite easy. I used to be pro-Labour but they're not for the working people any more. 'Instead of giving people money they should bring in some form of support to help people into work. I'd like to see the money spent from the cuts on more apprenticeships and more jobs.' Cafe worker Ollie Mason, 30, said: 'You walk around the streets in the morning and people are walking like zombies because they are on something. 'There are a lot of drugs in the area and a lot of businesses around here are getting robbed constantly. 'There are always people getting mugged in the park.' As well as Plymouth being the capital for PIP payments, neighbourhoods within Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Stockton-on-Tees have similarly high rates. Critics of Labour 's ballooning £143billion welfare bill said the figures should act as a 'wake up call' for the Government. The analysis comes after Keir Starmer completed a humiliating backtrack on his flagship welfare reforms package at the eleventh hour, following sustained pressure from over 120 MPs. The initial package of reforms was mooted to save around £5billion by the end of the Parliament and included a restriction on the eligibility for PIP. Existing claimants were to be given a 13-week phase-out period of financial support in an earlier move that was seen as a bid to head off opposition by aiming to soften the impact of the changes. It's understood now that around 370,000 existing PIP claimants will be able to keep their payments. But the change on PIP is estimated to wipe up to £2billion off the £5billion savings by the end of the Parliament, and Universal Credit tweaks another £1billion. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is odds-on to hike taxes to pay for the financial shortfall, experts have said. If the legislation clears its first hurdle on Tuesday, it will then face a few hours' examination by all MPs the following week – rather than days or weeks in front of a committee tasked with looking at the Bill. PIP can be paid even to people who are working, have savings or are getting most other benefits. It is not means tested, tax-free and currently doled out to around 3.6million people across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Labour Government is working on a plan to tighten eligibility for the payments. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall confirmed earlier this month that the government will overhaul the points system so a claimant must score 4 points in a single activity such as washing or dressing rather than eight points in total. People with less severe conditions will also need to be re-assessed more often. The proposals could see 800,000 people losing access to PIP. But there is strong resistance from MPs are trying to block the bill as well as mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who claims it would 'destroy the financial safety net' for millions of people. Local resident James Walker, 52, told MailOnline he hasn't been able to work since he was 18 and currently receives £733 per month higher rate PIP due to his epilepsy, depression, anxiety, agoraphobia and COPD in addition to his £366 universal credit. He said: 'I think the cuts are outrageous, that would really affect me in a lot of ways. 'I struggle to get by even on the higher rate of PIP so my quality of life would take a massive fall if they took that away. 'It's not enough money to live on once I have paid my £63 rent, electric, gas, council tax and water 'Labour is supposed to look after vulnerable people but Starmer is just a Conservative in a red tie. 'I know there are a lot of people exploiting PIP and I would like them to make it tougher for those people but not people who genuinely need it.' Unemployed former florist Julie Glanville, 52, said she doesn't claim PIP but believes there are numerous fraudulent claims made. He said: 'They need to weed out the ones taking advantage who don't want to work. 'It makes it harder for the people who genuinely need help. 'There are a lot of people in this area struggling and that need help but don't get it and a lot that don't need it. 'The whole system seems back to front sometimes.' According to Plymouth City Council figures over 57,000 residents in the city meet the Equality Act definition of having a disability. With about 12% of residents having their day-to-day activities limited a little, and 9% have them limited a lot. According to the ONS the total number of benefit claimants rose to 5,985 in March 2024, up from 5,500 in March 2023. Minicab driver Chris Kawka said: 'It's definitely not the best area to live in and there are always a lot of people hanging out in the park during the day. 'I don't know whether they really deserve that money or need it. 'People speak about this in my taxi all the time that you can get given more for not working than for working. 'I would like to see the government spend that money on programmes to get people back on their feet and back into work.' Meanwhile Byker East in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a universal credit hotspot, has the second highest rate of PIP claimants - 1,453 out of 4,278, almost 32 per cent. The Central Stockton & Portrack region of Stockton-on-Tees came in third at 30.5 per cent, or 1,323 out of 4,340. These are the only three areas where the PIP rate among working-aged people is over 30 per cent. However in 58 areas across England, the rate is more than one in five. Fifty four of these are across the North East, West and Yorkshire and the Humber, and four - Weston Bournville in Somerset, Augusta Park in Test Valley, Hartcliffe in Bristol and number one-ranked Victoria Park - spread across the South.
Daily Mail
11 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Held hostage by the NHS: Father paralysed from the neck down after stair fall claims red tape is stopping him coming home
A father left paralysed from the neck down after a tragic accident says he's being stopped from coming home to his family by red tape. Steve Todd, 45, was paralysed after falling down the stairs at his home in Redruth, Cornwall during a diabetes induced dizzy spell. The former holiday park maintenance manager has been in a specialist facility in Sailsbury ever since the episode back in December 2023. He expected to be able to leave to live in his specially adapted bungalow just outside Redruth in mid-February of this year after selling his family home. But Mr Todd says he's not able to because NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care System won't provide for his care needs unless he moves into a care home to be assessed. He says medical professionals at the specialist treatment centre he is in now have told him he should not go to a care home because he will never get out. The father said his life has been turned upside down since his injury. 'When they say life changing injury this is the very definition of it,' he said. 'My life has been turned upside down. I spent all of last year doing my very best to get better to be discharged mid-February this year. 'We've spent an absolute fortune getting my house ready for that.' Mr Todd added: 'I have been told by everyone in the hospital: health care professionals, charity advocates don't go into a home, you won't get out of there. 'The "council" seems to want me to go into an old folk's home. My massive worry is if I do that it's going to be cheaper and easier to keep me there and basically, I'm never going to get home, and I'll be living with dementia patients.' Mr Todd, who is diabetic, said the accident happened when he had a episode of low blood sugar. He went to go downstairs to get some Jelly Babies, missed his footing and tumbled, snapping his neck. Prior to that he was a facilities manager at a holiday park which meant he was a very active person, on his feet for most of the day. He now has a little movement and can only wiggle his fingers. He says there is some sensation and he can feel the injury, but it would be a miracle if he ever recovered. The father claims the NHS body told him it can't assess his care despite him being in the hospital for 18 months. His family say Mr Todd has been offered several interim care options, including two in community hospital settings. However, they say none of these have had either the facilities or staff trained to care for someone with his needs. The last option was offered in March, but this did not have the facilities to support the level of care needed, but due to a failed discharge at their end, it was withdrawn before they could visit the facility. He said any grants he was entitled to would have taken up to 18 months to come through. 'That sort of time scheme is unbearable,' he said. 'We've absolutely gutted ourselves, spent every penny we had adapting the house making it ready for me to come home and then we've got to that date and simply nothing happens. 'I can't see it's anything other than cost, it's not going to be cheap for me to live at home. I'm going to need substantial care.' He said at one point he was told he could go home with four one-hour visits from a carer but he needed 24-hour care. 'It breaks my heart to say that,' he said. His wife works full time and they have a five-year-old son, which he says means she doesn't have the time and energy to look after him as well. 'The other option is for her to quit her job but that puts the whole family on benefits,' he said. 'We don't want to be on benefits, nobody does. 'I genuinely don't know how my wife has coped. She has a full-time job. We have got a five-year-old. 'She managed to sell our old house she packed everything up, bought a new house, property management of all the building work that needed doing. I just think somewhere along the line it is going to take its toll,' he said. 'Our son has amazed all of us. He's been so resilient and adjusted so well.' Mr Todd said the whole ordeal had left his his mental health in 'absolute tatters'. 'Every day is a struggle,' he said. 'I wake up every day thinking surely today something is going to move today then I go to bed at night and nothing has.' His son Bobby is going to be six at the end of this month and he has missed a quarter of his life and big events, including two birthdays, two of his wife's birthdays and two Christmases. 'I just feel we've lost so much as a family,' he said. 'This accident has taken so much from us already. It just feels like 'What more do we need to do just to have a reasonable family life?' I feel like I'm under house arrest, genuinely.' Once Mr Todd leaves Salisbury, he will lose his power chair which is the property of the hospital. The family says another chair he has been promised is not ready yet. He has been left 'horrified' by his treatment and claims there are two or three other patients from Cornwall in the rehab he is in having similar experiences. 'There are people in other places who get the help they need but it seems to be a postcode lottery for us,' he said. 'This is something you never imagine goes on. If people get hurt and injure themselves, you think they get taken care of.' A spokesperson for NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care System said: 'We sincerely apologise for the impact this is having on Mr Todd and his family. 'It is vital that we provide the most suitable care for Mr Todd and we are working with Salisbury District Hospital to make sure that happens as quickly as possible.'
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
South West police adopt early warning kit for dangerous drugs
Police across the South West have started to use technology that acts as an early warning system for dangerous and Cornwall Police worked with a team of chemists to develop the handheld devices which detect dangerous synthetic drugs in real time and can save help save force's drug expert Nick Burnett and his team worked with Team Harm Reduction, a group of scientists from across the UK and beyond, on the team was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Analytical Science Horizon Prize for its work. The scientists said the portable devices identify lethal synthetic substances within seconds, enabling police and prison officers to warn vulnerable drug users immediately about potentially fatal team said the technology had also proven critical in detecting synthetic drugs hidden in e-cigarettes and vapes which are putting young people in particular at Harm Reduction is a multi-institutional team spanning Bath, Bristol, Glasgow and Manchester Metropolitan universities, Devon and Cornwall Police and international Supt Sheon Sturland of Devon and Cornwall Police said he was "extremely proud" of the force's drug team regarding its work on the said: "Devon and Cornwall Police is at the forefront of using this technology to give timely warnings of dangerous synthetic drug contaminates in circulation, and alongside our work to stop the flow of drugs into our region."It is invaluable in safeguarding vulnerable people." 'Building bridges' The force has also started using the devices to test for cannabinoids in vapes, commonly known as Spice, he Burnett said: "From a law enforcement side, having this technology has allowed us to work collaboratively with our drug treatment service and drug users to test drugs. "It has allowed us to build bridges so that we are not thinking just about prosecution, but also keeping the user demographic safe and preventing avoidable drug-related deaths."This year more than 60 individuals and teams from across the chemical sciences were awarded Horizon Prizes for a variety of scientific discoveries and innovations over the past 12 months.
