UK Kebab Firm Fined $630,000 for Mislabeling Lamb Products

A major UK kebab manufacturer, Kismet Kebabs, has been fined approximately $630,000 (£500,000) after admitting to a widespread fraud involving the mislabeling of lamb products. The company supplied millions of Britons with meat products containing goat, chicken drumsticks, and animal fat, which were falsely advertised as lamb.

The fraud, which spanned back to 2021, is estimated to have generated £6 million for the company. The scandal has drawn comparisons to the 2013 horsemeat crisis due to the scale of the deception.

Investigations began in 2020 when trading standards officers in Swansea started conducting random DNA tests on doner meat from local takeaways. These tests revealed significant discrepancies, prompting a raid on the Kismet factory in Latchingdon, Essex, in May 2021. During the raid, it was discovered that no lamb was being delivered to the facility.

Rhys Harries, a trading standards officer, stated that while consumers might expect lower quality ingredients in kebabs, they still expect the product to be what is advertised. He noted that the scale of the mislabeled product going out from Kismet Kebabs was comparable to the horsemeat scandal.

Investigators found that meat intended for different products was being packaged on the same production line with misleading labels. For example, a product advertised as '70 percent lamb' contained less than 10 percent sheep meat, while another labeled '87 percent lamb' was found to contain 40 percent animal fat. Recipe cards discovered at the factory indicated that some 'lamb' kebabs contained no lamb at all, but instead used goat, beef fat, and chicken drumsticks.

Swansea Crown Court heard that councils across England had lodged complaints about Kismet Kebabs' labeling practices. The company, which claims to be one of the UK's largest kebab meat suppliers and was named best supplier of the year at the British Kebab Awards in 2021, was ordered to pay an additional £259,298 in costs. Judge Huw Rees described the firm's actions as 'considerable dishonesty' over an extended period.

Despite the fraud, Kismet Kebabs remains a prominent supplier and holds BRCGS accreditation, a global food safety standard. A spokesperson for the company stated that they have invested heavily in improving their systems and controls, asserting that historical events do not reflect the current standards of the business. The company's directors, Panayiotis Vasilis Michael and Djemal Enver, have been with the company since 2014. The company attributed the day-to-day operations leading up to 2022 to an individual who no longer works for Kismet.