Essex-based Kismet Kebabs has been fined £500,000 after being found guilty of knowingly mis-selling lamb kebabs that contained little actual lamb, instead comprising a mix of fat, skin, assorted meats and mechanically reclaimed meat products.
The case arose following an investigation by Swansea Council’s trading standards team in late 2020 and early 2021. The authority took part in a regional sampling exercise to check the meat species and descriptions applied to kebab meat sold by local kebab houses and restaurants.
The results indicated that kebabs supplied by Kismet did not match the descriptions on their labels. Subsequent laboratory tests on further samples found the meat content “differed significantly” from what was declared, triggering a multi-agency investigation. One product marketed as a lamb doner containing 87% lamb was found to contain only 51% meat and 40% fat.
On 20th May 2021, officers led by Swansea Council’s trading standards team visited Kismet’s production facility in Chelmsford. Prosecutor Lee Reynolds said inspectors identified multiple concerns relating to production processes, packaging and labelling practices.
Investigators also reviewed company invoices, which allegedly showed that relatively small quantities of lamb were being purchased compared with “significant quantities of lamb fat, skin, goat, mutton and ovine [sheep meat]”.
The court was told the company was also producing mechanically derived meat products consisting largely of neck trimmings, mutton trimmings, water and ice, which were then included in the meat content declaration.
Reynolds described the conduct as “organised, planned, unlawful activity” that had “misled wholesalers, retailers and consumers”.
Defending Kismet Kebabs, Stuart Jessop said the company had been established in 2008 and had operated successfully for many years without issue, providing good products to customers throughout the country. He said it was accepted that, at the time of the offending, the company had “taken its eye off the ball”, but added that significant changes had since been made.
Passing sentence, the judge said that, at the time of the offending, fraudulent activity had been “endemic” and that the company had engaged in “considerable dishonesty” over a prolonged period. The company was fined £500,000 and ordered to pay £259,298 in costs, with four years to pay the money.
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