Supermarket chain under investigation for selling South American meat labelled as 'best British beef'
9 March 2023, 18:09
A UK supermarket chain is under investigation after South American and European beef was sold with a British label, the National Food Crime Unit has said.
The supermarket chain has not been named by NFCU, which is part of the Food Standards Agency, but it has been confirmed that meat products from South America and Europe have been supplied to the retailer and labelled as British.
The NFCU's investigation involves the review of about 1.3 million documents with products being sold to customers as "best British beef", Farmers Weekly reported.
The Labour Party said "very serious questions" will need answering after a UK supermarket became embroiled in a major food fraud investigation.
Shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon said: "We were told the lessons of the horsemeat scandal had been learnt, but unfortunately this investigation could cast that into doubt.
"There are clearly very serious questions to answer and it's right that an urgent investigation is currently under way."
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The retailer in questions has now removed all affected products from it shelves, the NFCU has confirmed.
Andrew Quinn, deputy head of the NFCU, confirmed the agency is investigating a supply of fraudulent pre-packed meat and deli.
"The retailer was notified on the same day that we took action against the food business suspected of the fraud and immediately removed all affected products from their shelves," he said.
"The retailer continues to work closely and co-operatively with the NFCU investigation to progress the case against the supplier. This is not a food safety issue but a matter of food fraud.
"Any fraud investigations of this nature take time to go through evidence and bring to any outcome, including any potential prosecution. We take food fraud very seriously and are acting urgently to protect the consumer."
It comes after the National Farmers Union's (NFU) president Minette Batters warned against complacency "about the risks that continue to exist" after the horse meat scandal in 2013.
In 2013, horsemeat was discovered in the food supply chain in products being sold as beef. Millions of products were withdrawn all over Europe at great cost to the industry and the UK economy.
Environment Secretary Therese Coffey later told the conference that the Government has worked hard to ensure biosecurity and that "we shouldn't be putting ideas into people's minds" in case consumers are scared off.
