After another tragic journey of wrong directions, illegal turns and going over the middle of a roundabout, Mr Wood (above in the car park) finally managed to find his way to GMSS (Greater Manchester Scientific Services), not to mention going through no entry signs and arriving ½ an hour later than Mrs Owen’s minibus!

Although first impressions were dentist-like and the walls a typical clinical shade of brown, we were greeted by a couple of friendly staff who gave an informative introduction about what goes on at GMSS.

GMSS analyses many things (such as food products, pollution levels, toys and domestic goods) to check that everything is as it should be.

We were split into 3 groups and shown around the labs and were told about the individual areas that are looked into.

GMSS focuses its resources on testing the safety of products or environment and the authenticity of food products. Each area had a number of tests using impressive machines and gadgets, one of these involved the destruction of an innocent teddy bear! They also deal with a great number of complaints, including unsafe products and foreign bodies in food. For example, a mouse’s head was found in a ‘vegetarian’ curry (just to spice it up a bit)! Another revolting example is that of a mouse that had been cooked in a loaf of bread and then sliced, tasty!

Overall, this visit was interesting and not as chemically based as the hard-core industrial sites.

P.S. They also gave us free pens and mouse mats!