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Food Standards Agency News
Link: http://www.food.gov.uk
Desc: The website of the Food Standards Agency

Food Standards Agency News
Link: http://www.food.gov.uk

Aldi recalls its own-brand Ashfield West Country Whole Chicken
Link: http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2008/oct/aldichicken
Desc: Aldi has recalled its own-brand West Country Whole Chicken because it has been labelled with the wrong 'use by' date. The Agency has issued a Food Alert for Information.

Views wanted on shiitake extract
Link: http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2008/oct/lentinan
Desc: A Danish company has applied to the Agency for approval to market its lentinan-rich extract from shiitake mushrooms as a novel food supplement and novel food ingredient.

Dalepak Foods recalls frozen spicy bean burgers
Link: http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2008/oct/dalepak
Desc: Dalepak Foods has recalled three varieties of frozen spicy bean burger due to the presence of lectin in under processed kidney beans. Lectin is a natural toxin present in uncooked kidney beans, which can cause stomach aches and vomiting.

White Rabbit Creamy Candies withdrawn due to melamine contamination
Link: http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2008/oct/whiterabbit
Desc: The Agency is alerting the public about certain batches of White Rabbit Creamy Candies from China which are on sale in the UK and have been found to contain melamine at levels of 11.25mg/kg, 152mg/kg and 80 mg/kg respectively.

Forest Products withdraws apricot jam
Link: http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2008/oct/apjam
Desc: Forest Products UK Ltd has withdrawn some of its Cherry Tree Apricot Extra Jam (340g) and Westcountry Preserving Company Finest Apricot Extra Jam (340g) because they contain sulphur dioxide, which was used as a preservative in the apricots. Sulphur dioxide is not mentioned on the packaging; therefore, this product could be a possible health risk for people who are sensitive to sulphites.

Grampian Foods recalls batches of 'Grabits' Original Chicken on a Stick
Link: http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2008/oct/grampian
Desc: Grampian Foods (Europe) Ltd has recalled certain batches of 'Grabits' Original Chicken on a Stick because there is a slight risk that products are raw or undercooked.

Koala biscuits withdrawn due to melamine contamination
Link: http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2008/oct/koalabiscs
Desc: The Food Standards Agency is today alerting the public about a brand of biscuits from China on sale in the UK that have been found to contain low levels of melamine (4.98 mg/kg).

New guide for wild game sellers
Link: http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2008/oct/wildgame
Desc: An updated version of the Agency's wild game guide has been published today. Targeting hunters who supply game that has not been plucked or skinned and those selling small quantities of wild game meat, it gives information on hygiene regulations and ways to make sure meat is safe to eat.

Fines for mango health claims

Supermarket group Asda has been fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £1,140 in costs for making claims about the anti-cancer properties of its mangoes.

Swindon trading standards prosecuted after one of its officers spotted a sign in a store while shopping last year. The sign read: "Mangoes are a great source of vitamin C and beta-carotenes, which are good for healthy eyes and skin. Their anti-oxidant properties help to fight cancer." This contravened the regulations, which prohibit any labelling claiming that a food prevents, treats or cures a disease. Asda had argued it made a genuine mistake, did not mean to mislead customers and though words in the claim were illegal they were not untrue.

Asda’s legal representative said the company had "fallen foul of legislation never meant to be used to prosecute a responsible, respectable company such as Asda" and argued it was not in the public interest to prosecute retailers over the promotion of healthy eating. But the magistrate held that there had been a clear failure of quality control procedures over the publication of the sign, which he said was "clearly misleading".

26 October 2004

For more information please go to:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/supermarkets/story/0,12784,1336411,00.html

Vitamin claim on drink lands company in court

Nichols plc have been prosecuted by Essex County Council for a labelling error on their Vimto Fruit Blast. The product labelling stated that the drink contained 4.1mg of vitamin C per 100ml, however when the product was tested no trace of the vitamin was found. The company had carried out its own tests on the drink, which was produced in Saudi Arabia , but failed to have an independent analysis.

October 2004

For more details go to:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/3747766.stm

Fat content labelling of minced meat

A survey carried out by the Food Standards Agency has revealed that consumers find fat content labelling of minced meat products misleading. The survey found that products claiming to be 'extra' or 'super' lean often contained as much, if not more, fat than 'lean' mince.

Several samples of mince claiming to be 'extra' or 'super' lean had higher fat contents than some lean mince. The survey concluded that consumers often pay a higher price for super/extra lean mince products yet the survey shows that often these products contain as much, if not more, fat than standard products.

October 2004

For full details please go to:

www.food.gov.uk/news/pressreleases/2004/sep/mincedmeatlabels

Trader prosecuted for excessive packaging

Northamptonshire Trading Standards service have prosecuted Office World for excessive packaging. Three test purchases were found to have excessive packaging with the products only filling 19%, 7% and 29% of the packaging. The company was fined £2000 plus £550 costs.

October 2004

For more details go to:

http://www.letsrecycle.com/materials/plastics/news.jsp?story=3726

Company fined over dangerous candles

Poundland Ltd pleaded guilty to a charge of selling dangerous candles and were fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £866 in costs. Tests showed the candles produced large flames and massive molten wax spillage, which presented a serious fire risk in the home.

August 2004

For more details go to:

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/northants/newsitem.cgi?file=prss0021.txt

Estate agent fined over glazing claim

An estate agent who falsely claimed that a house was fitted with double glazing throughout has been fined £8,000 after a Trading Standards prosecution. Richard Davies, a fellow of the National Association of Estate Agents and a partner with Taylors in Sedgley, West Midlands , was also ordered to pay more than £13,000 in costs after being convicted under the Property Misdescriptions Act by magistrates in Stourbridge.

29 August 2004

More information at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/08/29/nbul29.xml

Crackdown on credit advertising

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) have announced a probe into credit advertisements in response to a government investigation which found that 36 per cent of the adverts in eight national newspapers failed to comply with consumer law. The OFT is particularly concerned by advertisements that omit the APR when legally required to include it, that claim credit is "interest-free' if interest is charged when borrowers fail to pay by a specified date, or that fail to flag up brokers' fees or other hidden charges.

30 June 2004

£19,000 fines for overcharging

Lambeth Trading Standards have prosecuted Sainsbury's for overcharging customers on 'Buy one get the second half-price' and 'Buy three, save £1' offers at various Sainsbury's Local stores. Problems were found at six stores in Lambeth with overcharging occurring on at least 31 separate occasions.

Sainsbury’s pleaded guilty to 10 offences under the Consumer Protection Act for giving misleading price indications and were ordered to pay a total of £19,441 in fines and costs, to be paid within 14 days.

3 June 2004

For more information please see:

http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/intradoc/groups/public/documents/pressrelease/026136.pdf

Major retailer fined for selling dangerous Christmas toys

Tesco was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £1,363 costs after pleading guilty to a charge of selling dangerous Christmas reindeer toy sacks. The reindeer sacks had bells attached which tests showed could easily be pulled off and swallowed by a child, contrary to the General Product Safety Regulations 1994.

The goods were sold under the Tesco label but had been imported by a company called Revival Trading Limited. Legal proceedings were instituted against the importer however as the company had gone into liquidation and will not trade again the case against the importer was withdrawn.

May 2004

For more details please see:

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/northants/newsitem.cgi?file=prss0007.txt

Foreign language food products

Job Lot Trading Company, a discount food store based in Sheffield has been fined £9,000 and ordered to pay £470 costs after admitting failing to comply with food labelling regulations following a routine check by Derbyshire County Council's Trading Standards service.

Trading standards officers found:

28 packs of Silhouette vanilla frozen desert labelled entirely in a foreign language

91 cartons of Kellogg's Chocos labelled entirely in a foreign language

207 cans of Coca Cola light labelled entirely in a foreign language

47 packs of Penguin biscuits without a 'best before' date

57 packs of Lyons wafer fingers without the name of the food, ingredients list, 'best before' date, or name and address of manufacturer or distributor.

20 packs of an Indian selection of onion bhajis and samosas without an ingredients list, 'best before' date, or address of manufacturer or distributor.

06 May 2004

Heavy fines for illegal health claims

A company and its director admitted selling dietary supplements making illegal claims that they could prevent, treat or cure a variety of human diseases. Velvet Energy UK and its director were fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £500. The dietary supplement, called Velvet Energy, consisted of 60, 500mg capsules and sold for £25 claiming to cure diseases such as cancer, rheumatism, arthritis, back, joint and muscle pain, migraine, anaemia, infertility and osteoporosis.

October 2003

Find more information on this prosecution at:

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/northants/newsitem.cgi?file=prss0129.txt

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