Channel 4 will show hygiene breaches at Sodexho subsidiary

Sodexho-owned Tillery Valley Foods (TVF) is being accused of unhygienic food preparation practices by a Channel 4 documentary to be shown on TV tonight (13 May).

The food service company, which is the UK's biggest producer of hospital food, is part of a Dispatches programme, investigating the standards of food produced for British hospitals.

In the programme, a Dispatches reporter worked under cover at TVF's factory in Gwent for eight weeks and filmed food preparation practices for six weeks. The reporter claims to have filmed more than 120 incidents of "unhygienic behaviour". These allegedly included: staff eating food from the production line; handling food without surgical gloves; sneezing into food; and staff handling rubbish and then returning to the production line without washing their hands.

A spokesman for Channel 4 said the allegations were put in a letter to the company, giving TVF a right to reply. However, the company took Channel 4 to court on Monday, hoping that it would be able to view the footage before it was shown. In a statement, TVF said at no stage did it try to block the programme being aired.

The footage was viewed by food safety expert Paul Povey of King's College London, who said he was alarmed by the breaches of hygiene, which he described as "totally unacceptable". He also said the level of contamination indicated "poor standards of hygiene with potential for food poisoning".

TVF strongly rejected the allegations and remained confident that its practices were up to scratch. Michelle Hanson, managing director of TVF, said: "We produce 25 million meals a year. In 20 years we have not had a single incidence of food poisoning.

"TVF is committed to providing safe, nutritious food. We therefore take the allegations raised by Channel 4 very seriously. We expect all our staff to operate to the highest standards of food hygiene. Any member of staff who has allowed their behaviour to fall below those high standards will face immediate disciplinary action."

The programme also examines the nutritional standards of meals produced for hospitals that no longer have their own kitchen facilities and whether these are up to the standards patients expect.