Supermarket beef fraud: Booths is 'NOT under investigation' but the Lancashire retailer is assisting the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) with their probe into fraudulent supplier

By Lucinda Herbert
Published 11th Mar 2023, 12:21 BST
Updated 11th Mar 2023, 14:29 BST
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Booths has clarified that a recent article claiming that they are ‘under investigation’ of food fraud is inaccurate, as the Lancashire supermarket assists the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) with an ongoing inquiry into one of their suppliers.

After being approached by the Lancashire Post, Booths revealed they had been working with the FSA – but have stressed that they are NOT under investigation.

The retailer - which is headquartered in Preston and has 27 stores across the North – have been ‘working closely and co-operatively’ with the NFCU, a branch of the Food Standards Authority, since being made aware of potential food fraud by one of their suppliers in 2021.

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Booths instantly ceased trading with the supplier in 2021

corned beef/cooked sandwich meat. Image: Getty Imagescorned beef/cooked sandwich meat. Image: Getty Images
corned beef/cooked sandwich meat. Image: Getty Images

A spokesperson for Booths said: “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.”

Investigation into pre-packed meat from South America

This comes after the NFCU launched an investigation codenamed “Operation Hawk” into pre-packed meat and deli products from South America and Europe being labelled and sold as British in a UK supermarket.

The investigation involves the review of about 1.3 million documents with products being sold to customers as “best British beef”, Farmers Weekly reported.

Booths added: “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. 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.”

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