Food Inspectors - Series 2: Episode 1

Enfield Council's food inspectors Mary and Claire visit a Chinese takeaway, where they discover a rabbit which belongs to the owner's daughter and is being kept in a food preparation area. They also find an area awash with mouse droppings and urine, and in an outside storage shed there are the remains of a dead rat or mouse. Matt investigates a countryside crimewave which sounds like something out of the 18th century - animal rustling. Pigs, sheep and cows are being stolen, loaded into lorries and driven away to be illegally slaughtered. If it ends up in the catering industry we could be eating illegal, unsafe, stolen meat without even knowing it. While food inspectors concentrate on businesses, most cases of food poisoning happen in people's homes or workplaces. Chris Hollins visits a fire station in Lincolnshire - the firefighters cook a tasty fry-up at the station, but there are dangers lurking in their kitchen. Our resident expert Ben gives the kitchen a once over and uses a gadget to test for bacteria. Chris Hollins meets Darren, from Lancashire, who ate one mouthful of undercooked pork chop and ended up in hospital. He cooked the pork for five minutes and could tell it wasn't quite right but swallowed one piece. Three weeks later he woke with a headache and tingling in the corner of his face and within 48 hours he was in intensive care fighting for his life. He had contracted listeriosis, and the bacteria went to his brain - causing meningitis. In the UK we devour 11.5 billion sandwiches every year. Making a sandwich may look simple but the lunchtime favourite is a potential breeding ground for lethal bacteria. Chris visits Raynor Foods in Chelmsford which prides itself on food safety and makes 32,000 sandwiches each day.