Kebab firm fined £500,000 for selling fat and skin labelled as lamb

Kismet Kebabs Ltd, based in Essex, was convicted of fraud after supplying mislabelled lamb products to takeaways and restaurants across England.

Essex kebab firm fined £500,000 after selling fat and skin as lamb

A kebab manufacturer has been fined £500,000 after a court found it had systematically sold products labelled as lamb that were composed largely of skin, fat and assorted other meats, BBC News reports.

Swansea Crown Court heard that Kismet Kebabs Ltd, based in Chelmsford, Essex, supplied takeaways and restaurants across England with products whose labels indicated specific quantities of named meat — quantities the company knew to be false. Judge Huw Rees said fraudulent activity had been "endemic" at the firm and that it had engaged in "considerable dishonesty" over a prolonged period.

The company was also ordered to pay £259,298 in costs and was given four years to settle the total amount.

Investigations triggered by sampling exercise

Proceedings began after Swansea Council's trading standards team participated in a regional sampling exercise in late 2020 and early 2021. Officers collected samples from kebab houses and restaurants across the city and county; laboratory results showed the products from Kismet did not match the declared meat content on their labels. Further lab tests on samples obtained from wholesalers confirmed that meat content "differed significantly" from what was stated on packaging.

Council officers subsequently contacted the National Food Crime Unit and the Food Standards Agency. It then emerged that Essex Council had a "long history" of involvement with Kismet through what is known as a Primary Authority Partnership, and had been receiving complaints from councils around England relating to labelling and meat content.

Factory audit and invoices

Lee Reynolds, prosecuting on behalf of Swansea Council, told the court that Kismet had manufactured and supplied kebabs with labels indicating a specific quantity of specified meat, "which the firm knew to be incorrect, thereby fraudulently misleading customers."

"Much of what was being described as lamb was in fact skin and fat," Reynolds said. "The company routinely and knowingly purchased goat, lamb fat, skin, mutton and ovine, and once processed through their factory sold it as lamb. In addition, other products were sold as specific meat products when the item contained meat of a different species."

In one instance, a lamb doner claiming to contain 87% lamb was found to hold only 51% meat and 40% fat. Invoices examined by investigators showed that very little actual lamb was being purchased by the company, which instead bought a "large volume of skin, fat, goat" and lower-grade products that could not legally be described as meat. The company was also producing mechanically derived meat made up predominantly of neck trim, mutton trim, water and ice, which was then counted towards the product's declared meat content.

On 20 May 2021, a team led by Swansea trading standards visited the Chelmsford factory and raised "multiple concerns" about production, packaging and labelling. Essex Council had previously terminated its Primary Authority agreement with Kismet owing to a "lack of operation" and "serious labelling and potential public health issues" uncovered during a factory audit.

Reynolds described the conduct as "organised, planned, unlawful activity" that had "misled wholesalers, retailers and consumers". He noted that sentencing guidelines for a firm of Kismet's size would ordinarily point to fines of between £15 million and £24 million, a range he acknowledged was "wholly unrealistic" given the company's financial position.

Company's position

Kismet Kebabs Ltd had previously pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation. Stuart Jessop, representing the firm, said the company had been established in 2008 and had traded successfully for many years, providing "good products to customers throughout the country". He accepted that during the period of the offending the company had "taken its eye off the ball" but said significant changes had since been made to its operations.

Jessop added that the company had made "little financial gain" from the fraud and argued it would "benefit nobody" to impose a fine large enough to force the firm out of business.

Judge Rees acknowledged the steps taken by Kismet since the offending period, noting that harm in the case was difficult to determine precisely. He imposed the £500,000 fine alongside the cost order, giving the company four years to pay.

Source: BBC News