41-year-old Kathyrn Beale, who has been providing her services to new mothers for two years, says she understands health officials concerns, but admits: "I think they have been a bit overzealous in trying to shut me down without doing a full inspection. I believe that I do it safely."
The process in which Kathryn makes her smoothies involves visiting the new mother and blending a piece of placenta, approximately 8cm long, with fruit and various other juices, and the business owner adamantly asserts: "I only prepare placenta smoothies when I am with the mother in her home or at her private hospital because she needs to drink it straight away."
Kathryn, who has volunteered to cease her smoothie production pending a visit from officials, defended her work process, saying: "There is no eating of anyone else's placenta. It is all quite tightly controlled, stored properly and chilled. Everything has to be cleaned and sterilised and there is quite strict hygiene involved."
In addition to making smoothies, Kathryn also provides an encapsulation service which see the placenta ground into a powder before being made into capsules.
Commenting on this aspect of her business Kathryn said: "I do the encapsulation service at home. The environmental health officers did come around to my home but they have not done a full inspection."
Kathryn charges £20 per smoothie while encapsulations services costs £150.
Speaking out about the investigation, a spokeswoman for Swindon Borough Council said: "Whilst the health benefits of this activity are not clear, the processes involved in the production of human placenta for human consumption present a number of potentially serious health which explains this action."
