T
he meals security watchdog has launched a brand new freephone quantity to make it simpler for folks to report suspected meals fraud because it revealed associated crimes price the UK economic system as much as £2 billion a yr.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) mentioned the brand new cellphone quantity would enable folks to talk up and share their issues as a part of efforts to “strengthen the collective response” to tackling meals crime.
FSA chief government Emily Miles introduced in May that the company was exploring methods to forestall prison exercise within the meals business following fraud allegations within the meat sector.
In an replace from its Food Fraud Working Group, the FSA mentioned it was working with business on methods to encourage meals fraud whistleblowing and strengthening preparations to permit the sharing of knowledge between third-party auditors utilized by meals companies and the FSA to assist forestall prison exercise.
It was additionally bettering the way it issued intelligence-based alerts to raised warn companies about potential meals fraud in provide chains.
The UK has a few of the most secure and most genuine meals on the planet, however there’ll all the time be a menace of criminality within the meals system.
UK meat-products provider Loscoe Chilled Foods went into administration on the finish of March amid a prison probe into the alleged mislabelling of the corporate’s merchandise.
Three arrests have been made after grocery store chain Booths obtained pre-packaged sliced meats and deli merchandise that have been allegedly sourced from South America and Europe , however labelled as British.
The FSA confirmed that no additional arrests had been made.
In a separate report, the FSA estimated that the price of meals fraud to shoppers, companies and authorities was between £410 million and £1.96 billion per yr.
It additionally estimated the worth of fraudulent food and drinks within the UK to be between £296 million and £1.48 billion a yr.
Ms Miles mentioned: “The UK has some of the safest and most authentic food in the world, but there will always be a threat of criminality in the food system.
“Food businesses are the first and most important line of defence and we want to support them. This is one of the reasons why we launched a working group to explore together whether some areas of our collective response to food crime can be improved. Together, we’re making it easier to share intelligence and information by helping people who work in the food system to share their concerns with us freely and confidentially.
“Our research suggests that for businesses and consumers feeling the financial strain, the cost of food crime still matters.”
Helen Sisson, director and co-chair of the Food Industry Intelligence Network mentioned: “We are pleased to be taking action with the FSA and our partners in the food industry to strengthen the way we can prevent food crime in our supply chains.
“Cooperation and communication between every part of the food system is vital to protect the public and the global reputation of UK food.”
Anyone who suspects meals fraud can report it to “Food Crime Confidential” on meals.gov.uk or by phoning 0800 028 1180 (0207 276 8787 for non-UK mobiles and calls).
