FEARS of industrial espionage and contamination of their products has led to Jordans Cereals spending £10,000 on a state of the art security system. The company has installed the new system at its Holme Mills site in Biggleswade to ensure it is better pro

FEARS of industrial espionage and contamination of their products has led to Jordans Cereals spending £10,000 on a state of the art security system.

The company has installed the new system at its Holme Mills site in Biggleswade to ensure it is better protected against potential problems that could harm its business.

All movements of staff and visitors within the mill site are now continuously monitored.

Jordans employs 340 staff at the mill but with the plant open 24 hours a day and visitors making deliveries and taking out goods at night the company felt security needed tightening.

All staff have personally allocated cards that are read by the swipe system and the information is logged on to a computer. Each card can be programmed to include different restrictions within the site.

"It is very important for us to know who is on the premises and to be able to restrict access to the production facility," said Maurice Hurn, Jordans' projects manager.

"Security in the industry is without doubt far tighter now.

"It is also important in terms of health and safety regulations to monitor who is on the site."

The key cards are also linked to the external car park barriers as well as the company's payroll through a time and attendance programme where hours worked are logged and processed for wages.

The system can also be connected to the fire alarms so that if an alarm activates it will automatically trigger a release on doors.

The system was installed by Bedford company Ace Security whose managing director Kevin Burraway said: "Concerns about potential food contamination, pressures from buyers and even fears of industrial espionage by rivals have made security a high priority across the whole food industry.

"It is a competitive market and our customers tell us that having the right security measures in place could mean the difference between keeping a lucrative business and losing it.

"Any customer can make random visits to suppliers at any time of the day or night and we realise that it's crucial that we maintain the system in perfect working order and respond immediately if there are any issues.