A NORTH Yorkshire poultry firm was misled into giving waste turkey and chicken to a firm which butchered the diseased carcasses at a rat-infested factory and sold them on to leading supermarket chains, a court heard.
Denby Poultry Products, based in Denby, Derbyshire, claimed it needed the produce to make pet food, and paid for the privilege of removing waste from firms across the UK including Moorland Poultry in Thirsk.
Nottingham Crown Court heard that the "waste" birds could contain bacterial hepatitis, staphylococcus ecoli-septicaemia and were fit only for rendering as fertiliser.
Five men deny conspiracy to defraud their customers and the public between August 1995 and March 2001.
The trial continues.
Updated: 10:29 Tuesday, June 17, 2003
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