FSA secures food fraud convictions as it seeks to regain consumer trust

The sentences were announced at the end of August following a joint investigation by Southwark Council and the FSA's National Food Crime Unit (NFCU), which uncovered 1.9 tonnes of Category 3 animal by-products being processed at an illegal cutting plant in London.

For safety reasons, once meat is classified as an animal by-product, it should be permanently excluded from the human food chain. However, the investigation traced the animal by-products back to legitimate food business operators who confirmed the meat products had been sent to Fears Animal Byproducts in Somerset to be manufactured into pet foods or for safe disposal.

Four men were convicted of diverting meat not fit for human consumption back into the food chain from the plant, which itself was unhygienic, had no running water and was not registered as a food business.

While two of the accused pleaded guilty, Anthony Fear, director of Fears Animal Products Ltd, pleaded not guilty and was convicted, along with the company, after a lengthy trial. 

Fear was sentenced to 42 months’ imprisonment and a six-year director disqualification, while manager Mark Hooper received a 24-month suspended sentence and was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

Two other employees were also convicted. One was sentenced to 35 months’ imprisonment and an indefinite food industry ban, while another was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, suspended for 21 months, and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work in addition to paying costs of £5,000.

The company, Fears Animal Products Ltd, will be sentenced in 2026 following the conclusion of confiscation proceedings.

The FSA placed consumer trust in food at the heart of its 5-year strategy 2022-27 and its FSA three-year corporate plan and the convictions come just months after the NFCU was granted greater enforcement powers to tackle food fraud under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

The NFCU was established in 2015 after a review into the 2013 horse meat scandal identified systemic weaknesses in the UK’s food supply networks. Initially, the NFCU had no powers to lead on investigations into food fraud without police assistance, compounding concerns about the regulator’s ability to tackle food crime and failures in food safety effectiveness. The FSA noted in its three-year corporate plan that the NFCU was wholly “reliant on external partners” – primarily the police and local authorities – “to carry out basic investigatory functions”. 

However, on 1 May, almost a decade after its inception, NFCU investigators were granted new powers to apply for and execute their own search warrants to help protect businesses and consumers from food fraud.

Commenting on the recent convictions, Zoe Betts, food safety law expert at Pinsent Masons, said: “The recent prosecutions and sentences reflect the serious nature of the offences and demonstrate that the FSA will not shy away from pursuing egregious disregard for the law, whatever the complexity of the circumstances”. 

Although the investigation linked to these convictions predated the NFCU’s new powers coming into force, Betts said they would give the regulator greater scope to intervene and investigate food crime in the UK. “Its new investigatory powers have been welcomed by the regulator and should help to speed up the process and ensure more efficient use of resource,” she said.