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| Call for UK food crime unit to tackle 'endemic' illegal activity | Call for UK food crime unit to tackle 'endemic' illegal activity |
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| The risk of criminal activity in the UK food chain is now so great that a dedicated new food crime unit should be set up with investigatory powers similar to the police to deal with it, according to a government report launched in the wake of the horsemeat scandal. | The risk of criminal activity in the UK food chain is now so great that a dedicated new food crime unit should be set up with investigatory powers similar to the police to deal with it, according to a government report launched in the wake of the horsemeat scandal. |
| The UK food sector is a "soft touch for criminals at the moment" who know there is little risk of being detected and even if they are the penalties are not high, chairman of the report, Professor Chris Elliott, said. | |
| The interim report argues that food crime consists of deliberate organised activity by networks of criminals rather than a few random acts by "rogues" within the food industry. | |
| It catalogues a series of ways that organised criminals are able to make huge profits from the food chain due to in adequate enforcement of regulations such as labelling. | It catalogues a series of ways that organised criminals are able to make huge profits from the food chain due to in adequate enforcement of regulations such as labelling. |
| The new food crime unit, says the report, should be set up as a non-Home Office police force with the capacity to deal with "complex food crime perpetrated by highly organised and dangerous, potentially violent organised crime groups". | The new food crime unit, says the report, should be set up as a non-Home Office police force with the capacity to deal with "complex food crime perpetrated by highly organised and dangerous, potentially violent organised crime groups". |
| Elliott calls for urgent investigation into whether these groups also cross over to networks already established in trafficking drugs, cigarettes, fuel, firearms or people. | Elliott calls for urgent investigation into whether these groups also cross over to networks already established in trafficking drugs, cigarettes, fuel, firearms or people. |
| The report - which was commissioned by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs but is independent of government - is also highly critical of aggressive supermarket buying practices and "too good to be true" cheap offers. He recommends that they and other sellers should be held criminally liable if they sell mislabelled meat to consumers, so putting the onus on them to check their suppliers. | |
| Elliott told the Guardian he believed food crime was now endemic in the UK food system and already involves serious organised crime. He added that it was likely to get worse because supply chains have become so complex, margins are being squeezed and the capacity of regulators to enforce the law had been cut. | Elliott told the Guardian he believed food crime was now endemic in the UK food system and already involves serious organised crime. He added that it was likely to get worse because supply chains have become so complex, margins are being squeezed and the capacity of regulators to enforce the law had been cut. |
| He said an urgent change in culture was necessary in the food industry and government, which he says had concentrated so much on food safety and hygiene that it has failed to understand the scale of the threat from crime. | He said an urgent change in culture was necessary in the food industry and government, which he says had concentrated so much on food safety and hygiene that it has failed to understand the scale of the threat from crime. |
| The report also highlights several types of food that need to be priorities for intelligence gathering about possible criminal activity: | The report also highlights several types of food that need to be priorities for intelligence gathering about possible criminal activity: |
| • Cheap burgers – the report cites one supplier of meat products who describes a retailer asking him to produce a "gourmet burger" for a unit price of under 30p a kilo. The supplier believed that by using the cheapest beef available from older cows and factoring in fixed costs, the lowest possible unit price would be 59p. The ways a supplier might meet the unrealistic price specified would be to switch to meat from premises not approved by the EU, or to add in offal, such as heart or mechanically separated meats. | • Cheap burgers – the report cites one supplier of meat products who describes a retailer asking him to produce a "gourmet burger" for a unit price of under 30p a kilo. The supplier believed that by using the cheapest beef available from older cows and factoring in fixed costs, the lowest possible unit price would be 59p. The ways a supplier might meet the unrealistic price specified would be to switch to meat from premises not approved by the EU, or to add in offal, such as heart or mechanically separated meats. |
| • Fish - particularly vulnerable to several forms of fraud, warns Elliott, through the substitution of cheaper species for expensive ones, relabelling fish from depleted fisheries as coming from reputable ones, use of illegally caught fish, adulteration of fish products with other species in frozen fish blocks, and undeclared adulteration of fish products with added water. | • Fish - particularly vulnerable to several forms of fraud, warns Elliott, through the substitution of cheaper species for expensive ones, relabelling fish from depleted fisheries as coming from reputable ones, use of illegally caught fish, adulteration of fish products with other species in frozen fish blocks, and undeclared adulteration of fish products with added water. |
| • Products, where sales appear to outstrip the market supply, such as New Zealand manuka honey, where UK sales alone outstrip total global output; pomegranate juice, where an explosion in sales marketed as "superfruit" appear to outstrip the time it would take to grow trees to produce it. | • Products, where sales appear to outstrip the market supply, such as New Zealand manuka honey, where UK sales alone outstrip total global output; pomegranate juice, where an explosion in sales marketed as "superfruit" appear to outstrip the time it would take to grow trees to produce it. |
| • Products with complex production chains such Spanish olive oil that is bottled in Italy or products where premiums can be charged for specific provenance, such as Aberdeen Angus burgers. | • Products with complex production chains such Spanish olive oil that is bottled in Italy or products where premiums can be charged for specific provenance, such as Aberdeen Angus burgers. |
| The report dismisses the food industry's portrayal of itself as a victim of crime in the horsemeat scandal, saying the true victims were consumers, especially low-income consumers who are more exposed to food crime because they tend to eat more cheaper processed foods most susceptible to fraud, and those consumers who depend on one provider for their food in care homes, hospitals and prisons. | The report dismisses the food industry's portrayal of itself as a victim of crime in the horsemeat scandal, saying the true victims were consumers, especially low-income consumers who are more exposed to food crime because they tend to eat more cheaper processed foods most susceptible to fraud, and those consumers who depend on one provider for their food in care homes, hospitals and prisons. |
| The report also squarely puts the supermarkets' buying practices at the centre of food fraud, maintaining that "adversarial procurement" has increased their exposure to adulteration. "Consumers need to ask whether certain deals are too good to be true … Shareholders, board members and those managing food businesses should ask whether certain deals are too good to be true." | The report also squarely puts the supermarkets' buying practices at the centre of food fraud, maintaining that "adversarial procurement" has increased their exposure to adulteration. "Consumers need to ask whether certain deals are too good to be true … Shareholders, board members and those managing food businesses should ask whether certain deals are too good to be true." |
| In sharp criticism of the lack of prosecutions for horsemeat and the inadequacy of current sanctions, the report says anyone selling meat that is mislabelled should be considered criminally liable, and anyone buying meat on the "grey markets" through brokers should know that the risks are higher and should check more carefully. | In sharp criticism of the lack of prosecutions for horsemeat and the inadequacy of current sanctions, the report says anyone selling meat that is mislabelled should be considered criminally liable, and anyone buying meat on the "grey markets" through brokers should know that the risks are higher and should check more carefully. |
| If retailers buy consistently below the market price they should have to prove not just that they have a paper trail but that they have checked that there are no grounds to suspect the goods are counterfeit or "criminal property" or they risk being guilty of complicity in crime. | If retailers buy consistently below the market price they should have to prove not just that they have a paper trail but that they have checked that there are no grounds to suspect the goods are counterfeit or "criminal property" or they risk being guilty of complicity in crime. |
| Their system of auditing is inadequate to detect fraud and needs to switch from announced to unannounced inspections as well as random sampling. | Their system of auditing is inadequate to detect fraud and needs to switch from announced to unannounced inspections as well as random sampling. |
| The report raises concerns the review team heard from industry that significant amounts of meat that has been condemned for rendering because of its potential to cause disease is being recycled as meat eligible for pet food. | The report raises concerns the review team heard from industry that significant amounts of meat that has been condemned for rendering because of its potential to cause disease is being recycled as meat eligible for pet food. |
| The team separately heard of a previous case in which pet food was recycled into the human food chain. Both industry and the government need to acknowledge the risks of meat that is not fit for human consumption entering the human supply chain, it says. | The team separately heard of a previous case in which pet food was recycled into the human food chain. Both industry and the government need to acknowledge the risks of meat that is not fit for human consumption entering the human supply chain, it says. |
| The environment secretary. Owen Paterson. is expected to respond to the report later on Thursday morning. | The environment secretary. Owen Paterson. is expected to respond to the report later on Thursday morning. |
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