Investigative reporting on the frontline

Latest reports

The hidden cost of cheap fruit

Our partner outfit Ecostorm has been undercover with Channel 4 News investigating conditions for some those picking and packing supermarket fruit at a major facility in Kent. What we found was shocking and has provoked an immediate outcry. Our undercover reporter experienced first hand the highly-pressured environment at the Mansfields packhouse at Chartham, with managers […]

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One World media award from Bruce Lee “sewers” film

Bruce Lee, King of the Sewers, produced by Ecologist Film Unit’s co-director Jim Wickens for Channel 4 News, has won best short film at the 2015 One World Media awards. It follows previous awards for the film including a Royal Television Society prize and an Amnesty award. More info: http://oneworldmedia.org.uk/2015-winners

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Revealed: livestock MRSA in supermarket pork

A special Ecostorm / Ecologist Film Unit investigation with The Guardian revealed how a new pig superbug – LA-MRSA CC398 – is spreading onto our plates and into our bodies. Watch the disturbing results of our food tests in four of Britain’s biggest supermarkets, where the superbug has been found in pork. It’s not deadly […]

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Poultry investigation wins Derek Cooper award

The Ecostorm / Ecologist Film Unit joint investigation with The Guardian into hygiene failures in the UK poultry sector has won the 2015 Derek Cooper Award for investigative and campaigning journalism at the guild of Food Writers annual award ceremony. The investigation, using undercover footage, photographic evidence and information from whistleblowers revealed in 2014 how […]

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What’s the real cost of our salad?

An army of modern-day “slaves” are being used to grow the salad and winter vegetables that fill Britain’s supermarket shelves, a major new investigation by Ecostorm / Ecologist Film Unit and Channel 4 News has revealed. The allegations are made by politicians and workers interviewed in Spain who say migrants employed to pick salad for […]

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Two awards for Bruce Lee, King of the Sewers film

The major 2014 news film produced by the EFU’s Jim Wickens for Channel 4 News –  Bruce Lee, King of the Sewers – has won two major media awards – an Amnesty media prize in the TV news category and a Foreign Press Association award for TV news story of the year. Read the original […]

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UK food watchdog admits chicken factory breached hygiene laws

Food Standards Agency says it was wrong to clear Scunthorpe plant of any failings, as more workers make dirty poultry claims. Felicity Lawrence and Andrew Wasley report The government’s food watchdog has been forced to admit that an initial inquiry which cleared one of the UK’s largest poultry processing plants of hygiene failings was misleading. Instances […]

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Chicken factories inspected by FSA following hygiene claims

Sources reveal measures being taken to clean up production, but company denies allegations of food safety failings. Felicity Lawrence and Andrew Wasley report The chicken factories at the centre of revelations over food poisoning contamination were checked by Food Standards Agency inspectors on Friday, as sources reported that Tesco auditors had found failings during a […]

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Revealed: poultry industry’s dirty secret

By Felicity Lawrence, Andrew Wasley and Radu Ciorniciuc Three of the UK’s leading supermarkets have launched emergency investigations into their chicken supplies after a Guardian investigation uncovered a catalogue of alleged hygiene failings in the poultry industry. Undercover footage, photographic evidence and information from whistleblowers has revealed how strict industry hygiene standards to prevent the […]

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Beneath the streets of Romania’s capital, a living hell

Jim Wickens reports for Channel 4 News We are in the heart of Bucharest in the pouring rain, staring down at a man hole on the pavement and a rickety ladder bolted into the shadows within. It seems like yesterday that the world woke to the shocking scenes of neglect and cruelty inside Romania’s orphanages […]

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