Jamie Oliver restaurants among popular chains embroiled in one of the biggest food scandals since

JAMIE Oliver's Italian restaurant chain is among some of Britain's best-loved pubs and restaurants embroiled in a meat hygiene crisis involving Wetherspoon's steak supplier.

Russell Hume has been ordered to stop all deliveries as products were pulled from menus at short notice after investigators found suspected 'serious non-compliance' with food safety rules.

The Sun told yesterday how Wetherspoon bosses withdrew steak at all its 900 pubs on Tuesday, with some diners having menus taken from their hands.

The Derby-based company also supply other popular chains including Tiger Tiger, Greene King and Marston's pubs.

A number of holiday firms, care homes and schools are also believed to be supplied by the firm - which had a turnover of £129million in 2015.

Chairman David Holding was not available for comment at his £750,000 gated house in Derbyshire yesterday.

The Food Standards Agency has urged restaurants and other customers with unused Russell Hume meat to dispose of it immediately.

The alert followed an inspection on January 12 but it is believed restaurants weren't told until two days ago. Jamie's Italian and Wetherspoons both stopped serving the products on Tuesday.

Russell Hume, which employs 400 staff across seven sites in the UK, appears to have gone into shutdown and has not responded to requests for comment.

A spokesman for Jamie Oliver Group said: "All Russell Hume meat was removed from restaurants as soon as we were notified.

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"We also switched suppliers. We have very strict higher welfare and food standards and, to ensure our suppliers uphold these standards, we have an independent team that audits all our key suppliers, including meat."

A Wetherspoons spokesman said: “The product recall was a precautionary measure because of mislabelling. We have no reason to believe the product was unsafe to eat.”

Prof Chris Elliott, of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast, warned: “This will further undermine trust in the entire UK food industry. This is potentially one of the biggest food scandals since horsemeat.”

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