Kismet Kebabs Fined £500,000 for Selling Mislabelled Lamb Products
A company supplying kebabs to takeaways and restaurants across the UK, Kismet Kebabs Ltd, has been penalised £500,000 for fraudulently marketing products as lamb that primarily consisted of skin and fat. The Essex-based firm was also instructed to cover costs amounting to £259,298 following a ruling at Swansea Crown Court.
Prosecuting on behalf of Swansea Council, Lee Reynolds informed the court that Kismet Kebabs "misled wholesalers, retailers and consumers" through its manufacturing and supply practices. The company’s labels claimed specific quantities of meat, which the firm knew to be inaccurate.
Fraudulent Labelling Exposed
Evidence presented revealed that products advertised as lamb often contained a mixture of fat, skin, various meats, and mechanically reclaimed meat. Reynolds stated that "much of what was being described as lamb was in fact skin and fat," with the company routinely purchasing goat, lamb fat, skin, mutton, and ovine products, then processing and selling them as lamb. Furthermore, other items were sold under specific meat labels despite containing different species of meat.
The investigation commenced in late 2020 and early 2021 when Swansea Council's trading standards team conducted a regional sampling exercise. This revealed significant discrepancies between declared and actual meat content in Kismet’s kebab products. Further laboratory tests on samples from wholesalers corroborated these findings, prompting enquiries with the National Food Crime Unit and Food Standards Agency.
It emerged that Essex Council, which had a long-standing Primary Authority Partnership with Kismet, had received numerous complaints from other councils regarding labelling and meat content issues. One example cited a lamb doner claiming 87% lamb content, found to contain only 51% meat and 40% fat. The council subsequently terminated its agreement with Kismet due to a "lack of operation" and "serious labelling and potential public health issues" identified during a factory audit.
"Organised, Planned, Unlawful Activity"
On 20 May 2021, a team led by Swansea Council trading standards inspected Kismet’s Chelmsford factory, uncovering "multiple concerns" related to production, packaging, and labelling. Invoices showed the company purchased minimal lamb, instead acquiring substantial volumes of skin, fat, goat, and "lower-grade 'meat' products that cannot be called meat as per the legal definition." The firm also incorporated mechanically derived meat, composed largely of "neck trim, mutton trim, water and ice," into its declared meat content.
Reynolds characterised the company’s actions as "organised, planned, unlawful activity." Kismet Kebabs Ltd had previously admitted one count of fraud by false representation. Judge Huw Rees noted that fraudulent activity was "endemic" at the firm during the period of offending, describing it as "considerable dishonesty" over a prolonged duration. The company has been granted four years to settle the fine.
