Sacked, Selfridges butcher who sold foie gras under the counter

 
Sting: Jack O'Shea produces a pack of foie gras at his counter in Selfridges
Michael Howie10 April 2012

The butcher caught selling foie gras in breach of Selfridges' anti-cruelty policy has been ordered to shut up shop.

The department store said Jack O'Shea had left because of hygiene failures. In December he was exposed by the Evening Standard selling the goose liver under the counter, using the secret code "French fillet".

Campaigners accused him of a "shocking betrayal" and he was escorted from the building in front of customers on Christmas Eve.

Today Selfridges announced it had terminated Mr O'Shea's contract. It said he had been warned after the foie gras revelations, which came two years after it had banned such sales in the wake of a campaign led by actor Sir Roger Moore.

Ewan Venters, director of food and restaurants for Selfridges, said: "It is regrettable we had to part company with Jack O'Shea. But if anyone puts the store's five-star health rating in jeopardy, they can no longer be part of our business - it is as simple as that." Yesterday was the butcher's last day of trading at the store.

Mr O'Shea is regarded as one of Britain's finest butchers and provides prime meat to London restaurants and chefs. He started trading at Selfridges in November 2008 and has sold to more than 200,000 customers.

The foie gras revelation came after a customer saw the product being sold. The Standard was then able to buy a 795g pack costing £39.40, said to have been imported directly from Paris.

During the sale one of the counter staff admitted it was against Selfridges' policy, adding: "We only get it in at Christmas time."

Today Selfridges said it had been working with the butcher since October amid concerns about the failure of Mr O'Shea's concession "to adhere to exacting best practice standards in hygiene and food safety".

It found there were "risks of cross-contamination between raw and cooked meat," and issues surrounding temperature control, sell-by dates and "lack of proven traceability" from outside meat suppliers. Friends of Mr O'Shea said that he prided himself on his animal welfare standards.

He could not be reached for comment.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in