On Monday 24 July 2023 at Leeds Crown Court, Irfan Hanif Patel of Ravensthorpe Road, Dewsbury was sentenced to 120 hours of unpaid work in the community having pleaded guilty to offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994 and a number of food hygiene offences, including failing to register a food business. His brother, Mohammed Patel of Thornhill Street, Dewsbury was also sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid work in the community having pleaded guilty to the same offences.
This investigation involved the National Food Crime Unit, and other local authorities.
In December 2020 West Yorkshire Trading Standards and our Environmental Health Team received intelligence for counterfeit Abel and Cole cranberry sauce being supplied throughout the country.
The counterfeit cranberry sauce was purchased by Irfan Patel who was acting as a sole trader and was supplied to his brother Mohammed Patel, the director of Stock Up Direct Limited.
Stock Up Direct Limited supplied over 1,000 jars to a wholesaler who then supplied to various food businesses around the country including two food businesses in the Kirklees area. Neither brother had registered the businesses with the Council; therefore, were trading illegally. Therefore they had never been inspected to ensure they met the required food hygiene standards.
Officers from West Yorkshire Trading Standards and our Food Safety Team conducted visits to food businesses supplied in Kirklees and obtained the jars for further examination.
Our officers identified possible locations of Irfan and Mohammed’s businesses, visiting Irfan’s business, at the time located in Bretton Park Way, Dewsbury.
Irfan said the stock was bought from another trader, who visited the premises and produced an invoice for a business which was untraceable.
Officers also visited the company Stock Up Direct Limited, simultaneously. A subsequent formal interview with Mohammed Patel revealed he had never seen any stock that went through the company. The company was created as a side business for his brother, and he was involved in other larger companies.
The inspection of the Bretton Park Way premises revealed a warehouse with large quantities of food items. Irfan Patel was unable to provide any documentation to demonstrate the legal provenance of the foods and all food items were detained, pending further investigation.
Having failed to demonstrate the food items were from lawful sources, Council Food Safety officers seized the food and applied to Kirklees Magistrates’ Court for a Food Condemnation Order in February 2021.
The order was granted due to concerns about the sourcing of foods from unregistered businesses.
No regulatory checks had taken place to ensure safe storage, handling or distribution. The origin was unknown so potentially could be linked to illegal food activities such as bringing food destined for waste back into the food chain. Consequently, all seized food items were destroyed.
A sample of the suspected counterfeit sauce was submitted to the Public Analyst, who concluded that the sauce was not genuine Abel and Cole cranberry sauce. The trademark representative for Abel and Cole confirmed the cranberry sauce bore a label which was a copy of the Abel and Cole registered trademark.
In a joint statement, Trading Standards Manager, David Stover and Councillor Naheed Mather, Cabinet Member for Culture and Greener Kirklees at Kirklees Council said,
“Businesses need to ensure they are registered with the local authority 28 days before beginning to operate. They must have a traceability system in place and to only purchase stock they believe is legitimate by conducting checks. Supplying food that is counterfeit could contain anything which, in turn makes the label misleading and can cause serious harm to consumers. The cranberry sauce was also supplied near Christmas when demand is high, posing serious risk.
Trading Standards and Kirklees Council will continue to take action against any businesses flouting the law. We encourage all businesses to check the legal requirements relating to food businesses, information which is easily accessible through the Food Standards Agency website: http://www.food.gov.uk.”