Booths has been named as the supermarket who has reportedly been selling meat sourced from South America and Europe labelled as ‘best British beef’.
Earlier today, it was revealed that the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU), which is part of the Food Standards Authority (FSA), had launched an investigation into pre-packed meat and deli products coming from overseas.
While the retailer in question was not named initially, it was revealed by the Lancashire Post that Booths is the retailer that was being investigated by the FSA over it’s meat range.
However, the meat in question was pulled from Booths shelves in well over a year ago in 2021 – not recently as some reports have suggested.
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“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,” Andrew Quinn of the NFCU said.
“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.”
A spokesman for Booths gave an official statement in response to this, saying: “Following some recent speculation, Booths Supermarkets can confirm that they have been working closely and co-operatively with the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) since being made aware of potential food fraud issues in 2021.
“Booths are categorically NOT under investigation by the NFCU,” they said.
“Booths support for the investigation relates to a limited selection of cooked meat products and Booths have no knowledge of any other aspects of the investigation. At the point of being made aware of the potential issues in 2021 Booths acted instantly, removing all relevant products from sale and ceased trading with the supplier with immediate effect.
“Booths would like to confirm that fresh meat, poultry and game products are entirely unaffected by this investigation and that with the exception of the limited selection of cooked meat products impacted in 2021 Booths is absolutely confident in its British only meat commitment.
“It is also important to note the whilst the NFCU investigation relates to a potential serious food fraud incident, this is not a food safety issue.
“Issues of provenance, traceability, honesty and authenticity are of the highest importance to Booths and the business has been fully co-operating with and supporting the work of the NFCU for the past 18 months.”
The spokesman concluded, saying: “It is important that the NFCU is able to complete its investigations in an objective and impartial manner. The NFCU continue to have the full support of Booths and to that effect, Booths will make no further comment at this stage, any further enquiries relating to this matter should be directed to the NFCU.”
In 2013, horsemeat was discovered in the food supply chain in products being sold as beef, which resulted in millions of products being withdrawn all over Europe at great cost to the industry and the UK economy.
