CONTAMINATED poultry, fit only for pet food or fertilisers, was supplied to Kwik Save supermarkets, cafes and snack bars - including some in Blackburn and Burnley - a court has heard.
The food was distributed by a Derbyshire firm to wholesalers and then on to businesses across the North West, Nottingham Crown Court was told.
A jury heard how Denby Poultry Products Ltd, of Denby, sold thousands of tons of chickens and turkeys unfit for human consumption from its rat-infested and sewage-ridden factory.
The court also heard that it bought reject poultry carcasses, butchered them and sold them on to companies across Britain.
Some of the birds supplied by Denby Poultry were likely to have contained bacterial hepatitis, staphylococcus and E coli-septicaemia.
The delivery rounds included Kwik Save stores in the Higher Broughton, Lower Broughton, Burnage, Cheetham Hill, Hazel Grove and Rusholme areas of Manchester.
One driver said he took meat to Kwik Save stores, cafes and butchers in Blackburn, Burnley, Oldham and Leyland.
Five men deny conspiracy to defraud in connection with the supply of unfit meat between August 1995 and March 2001. The case was adjourned until tomorrow.
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