UK men get prison time for food fraud

Four men in the UK have been sentenced for diverting meat that was not fit for human consumption back into the human food chain, after pleading guilty to the charges earlier this year.

Anthony Fear, sole director of a Somerset business known as Fears Animal Products, was sentenced to 42 months in prison for conspiracy to defraud by placing food not fit for human consumption on the market, and disqualified from acting as a company director for six years.

Azar Irshad, who owned and ran an unregistered meat-cutting unit in Walworth Road, southeast London, was sentenced to 35 months in prison. The illegal operation was discovered after members of the public complained of a terrible smell of rotting meat emanating from the premises, prompting an investigation by Trading Standards.

The investigation revealed that the conspirators were placing spoiled sheep carcasses (smokies) and beef burgers, as well as illegal meat offcuts not intended for human consumption, onto the market. The illegal cutting plant was not registered as a food business, had no running hot water and the meat was prepared in unhygienic conditions.

Meanwhile, a manager at Fears – Mark Hooper – got a 24-month sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work, while Irshad's co-worker Ali Afzal was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 21 months, 150 hours unpaid work, and ordered to pay costs of £5,000 (around $6,725).

According to the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the Fears company will be sentenced in 2026 after the conclusion of confiscation proceedings, and costs for Fear, Hooper, and Irshad will also be determined thereafter.

"The sentences handed down today show that there is no place for such criminal activity in our food system," commented Andrew Quinn, head of the FDA's National Food Crime Unit (NFCU).

"The case demonstrates the serious risk posed to consumer safety when individuals deliberately disregard food safety regulations by putting meat unfit for human consumption back into the food chain."